The Scorned Son
by Calanor
Summary: They say hell hath no wrath like a woman scorned, but the wrath of a scorned son comes pretty close. The day his brother massacred the Uchiha clan, Sasuke shrugged. None of those people cared about him anyway. Years later he tries to leave his clan's shadow as a loyal shinobi of Konoha.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Naruto. This is written purely for my own enjoyment and I make absolutely no money.

**Author's notes:** I know I shouldn't start another story and instead work on my two existing ones, but ever since I saw the idea for this story on **nobody102**'s profile it just wouldn't leave my head. Please see author notes at the bottom for a summary.

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 1**

Sasuke Uchiha watched with his usual impassive expression as Iruka-sensei gave them a last few words of advice. Today was the day of their graduation. Finally they would be able to leave the academy and truly begin their life as shinobi of the Leaf. Steadfastly he ignored the adoring looks the girls of the class gave him.

'_A few more hours and I will never have to deal with them again this closely.'_

Soon enough it was time for the three man teams to be announced. Name after name was called, but his wasn't amongst them. Patiently he waited for his turn. Hopefully his teammates wouldn't get in his way.

"Okay, the next team is Team 7. Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka." Iruka-sensei announced.

Sasuke felt his insides freeze. The following moment of silence simultaneously lasted an eternity and passed by in an instant.

"SASUKE-KUN, WE WILL BE TOGETHER FOREVER!" two shrill voices screamed simultaneously directly into his ears. The owners of the voices latched onto his sides, holding him tightly. Sasuke struggled to free himself, but that only caused the girls to hold tighter onto him.

Heedless of the black-haired boy's plight Iruka continued announcing the teams. "Okay, that's it. Take a break until the afternoon and get to know your teammates better."

He felt himself be grabbed and dragged out of the classroom. A chaotic journey later he was lying naked in some dark room. His arms and legs were tightly bound and a ball gag prevented him from speaking. Vainly trying to free himself Sasuke could only watch as his two captors stripped down.

"Sasuke-kun, we love you!"

"You'll have no choice but to marry us both when we're through with you!"

Sasuke tried to scream, but the gag prevented him from making loud sounds. A blindfold descended over his eyes. Two warm bodies pressed against his and his mind descended into a confused jumble.

When he could see again he was in a brightly lit room. Loudly screaming children of all ages with blond and pink hair were running around and he was helplessly trying to catch up with them. In the background two adult, obese women who bore a striking resemblance to Ino and Sakura shouted at him with their screeching voices going at maximum volume.

"Sasuke-kun, change the diapers! Sasuke-kun, feed the babies! Sasuke-kun, make love to us! We'll never let you go!"

"NOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Sasuke woke with an inhuman cry of terror. His heart was pounding a staccato and he was drenched in cold sweat. Panicked eyes took in his bedroom, dimly lit by the pale moonlight. It was thankfully empty and silent.

The boy slumped back onto his bed in relief. _'It was only a nightmare.'_

Taking a moment to untangle himself from the bed sheets, he stumbled into the bathroom and splashed water into his face. He was still badly shaken, but slowly his conscious mind reasserted itself. While Sakura and Ino were the most persistent of his female admirers they wouldn't resort to rape. Hopefully.

When he returned to his bedroom he looked out the window. The eastern horizon was already becoming lighter. Dawn was coming and it wouldn't be worth it to go back to sleep. After a shower and donning fresh clothes Sasuke headed out to grab something to eat.

Sasuke chose one of the countless food stalls to provide his breakfast this morning. Konoha hardly ever slept and there were already quite a lot of people on the streets; even by night shinobi were coming and going. He didn't really pay attention to what he was eating; it was filling and not too bad-tasting.

Two workmen sat a short distance away, eating their own meal. The mentioning of his name drew his attention to them.

"Hey, isn't that the last Uchiha? Never thought one of those would eat in company of such as us. They were always too proud."

"Shh, don't bring up the Uchiha. Uchiha-sama doesn't like it when people talk about his clan."

"I can understand that. It was a tragedy and a great loss for Konoha. Well, I'm sure he will make his clan proud."

Sasuke's expression didn't change in the slightest when he finished his meal, paid the tab and left the stall and the patrons behind. The man was right; Sasuke didn't like it when people brought up his clan, especially not to his face. What no one knew was the true reason for that. They probably all assumed that he was still distraught about his older brother slaughtering the entire clan. Perhaps some of them thought of him as an unrelenting avenger.

The truth was very different: Sasuke didn't care in the slightest that his clan had been killed.

None of those people had truly cared about him anyway; not his father, not his mother and not his brother. He never felt like he really belonged to the clan. It wasn't as if he had really hated them, but he couldn't bring himself to feel sorrow over their passing.

What annoyed him greatly was the fact that even years after their deaths he couldn't leave their shadow. Each and every person he came in contact with insisted on associating him with the Uchiha clan. There seemed to be no escape. No matter what he did; it was always attributed to his clan.

He was at the top of his class? Only to be expected of the son of the Uchiha clan head and little brother to 'Clan-killer' Itachi, the unmatched prodigy.

He already mastered several fire jutsu? The Uchiha had always been good at fire techniques.

All Sasuke wanted was make his own name and live his own life, but the universe didn't seem to want to give him the option. He harbored the hope that it would get better after graduation when he could go out into the field.

Sasuke sighed. Graduation was still two months away. It couldn't come soon enough. For some unfathomable reason practically the complete female part of his age group had decided that he would make the perfect boyfriend. Aside from the fact that he felt still too young for such things (although he had begun noticing girls in _that_ way) they were all incredibly annoying. No amount of rebuffing or reasoning managed to divert them from their task 'to gain his love and heal his broken heart'. His heart was completely intact, thank you very much. None of the girls seemed interested in the real him anyway; they were all chasing the image of the Dark Uchiha Prince. By now he ignored the girls and hoped the matter would resolve itself sooner or later.

A few minutes later he arrived at the academy. The doors were already open, but aside from some teachers and the occasional early riser among the students the building was deserted. Once he reached his empty classroom he picked a seat at random and began reading a book on combat tactics. He might as well make use of his time as long as all was quiet. Soon enough one of his female admirers would capture the seat by his side, even if she had to resort to violence in the process.

The silence of the room was only disturbed by the sound of paper whenever he turned a page. Before long his thoughts wandered to last night's nightmare or rather a question it had sparked.

'_Who will my teammates be?'_

It was a difficult question with far-reaching consequences. In all likelihood he would have to work closely with those two people for years. Over the years he had seen many genin teams running around in the village. Most consisted of two boys and a girl, but of course there were exceptions.

When his classmates arrived one by one he considered their suitability as his teammates.

'_Kensuke; he's fascinated with complex traps and mechanisms. Rather weak in other fields. Mostly deadweight, but manageable. Toji; good at taijutsu but uninterested in anything requiring a brain.'_

The girls were all out. He didn't even want to think about having Ino or Sakura on the team. Or gods forbid, even both of them. He didn't think his sanity (or his hearing; or his virginity) would survive that.

'_Hinata; quiet, reserved and not that talented. On the other hand she's the only girl not after me. I could work with her.'_

Sasuke continued appraising his classmates as they entered. Shikamaru and Choji he could work with, but Kiba was hard at the limit. The Inuzuka boy was loud, brash and annoying. Shino seemed a good potential teammate. He hardly ever spoke but received good grades and was generally competent.

His thoughts were interrupted for a while when the daily fight over the seat neighboring his ensued. Today Ino achieved victory. The girl looked at him adoringly and slowly inched closer to him, reminding him uncomfortably of his nightmare. Sasuke kept his eyes glued to the front. Any harmless gesture would be seen as encouragement and he really didn't want to deal with that after last night.

When Iruka-sensei called the students to order the class clown Naruto was missing again as it was often the case. The idiot was probably playing a prank somewhere. Sasuke shuddered mentally. Having Naruto on his team would be just as bad as Sakura or Ino. Somehow the blond boy had gotten it into his head that he was his rival and constantly tried to confront him. Considering that Naruto had been the dead last for several terms his chances of defeating Sasuke in anything were… remote. It had long ceased to be funny, though, and grown into a real annoyance.

Sasuke was distracted the entire day while he thought about the matter of his future teammates; not that anyone noticed. He didn't know how the teams were chosen, meaning he saw no direct way to influence with whom he would end up.

'_Why don't I try and use my reputation and connections for something? It won't do any harm and might even work. I'll need to make a list.'_

* * *

"How was your week, Sasuke-kun? No problems, I hope?" Koharu asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "Nothing worth mentioning, Koharu-sama."

Homura nodded approvingly. "That is good to hear, young man. Any troubles with your studies?"

The young Uchiha continued to make polite conversation. He knew he often tended to appear as or actually be rude, but whenever he met with the two councilors he made an effort to observe all the niceties. After his clan had been slaughtered the village elders Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado had assumed guardianship over him. Sasuke rather liked them.

Both of them had been famous shinobi in their youth and were widely respected in the village. Their duties involved advising the Hokage, mediating conflicts inside the village and all sorts of other issues that cropped up but couldn't resolved by the individual departments. In spite of all of that they lived a rather quiet private life and both had large families that didn't really appear in the public spotlight. In short, they were what he hoped to become in forty or fifty years. The position of Hokage was for other people.

They made sure he didn't want for anything reasonable and oversaw his education, but they left him otherwise alone and respected his privacy. There was no butting in and offering false sympathy. To them he was a future asset of the village. They would treat other people in his position exactly the same. The important thing for him was that they didn't conceal that fact and that this was about him personally and not his clan. Well, mostly. As the bearer of a bloodline it was expected of him to father enough children to keep it alive, but that part was unavoidable.

Sasuke appreciated the honesty. It was a refreshing contrast to the faction of the girls that only pretended to like him because of his money or all the people that tried to suck up to him. Individually the Uchiha hadn't been that rich, but there had been more than three hundred Uchiha when the clan had been slaughtered. Since he was the last Uchiha in the village everything belonged to him. Currently Sasuke could only access a generous monthly stipend that would increase drastically when he became genin, but only when he made chunin or reached the age of sixteen everything would be released to him.

They met once a week and talked about things. Sasuke probably spoke more words on these meetings than during the entire week preceding them.

After the usual weekly conversation topics came to an end Sasuke approached the issue that had occupied his thoughts in the last few days. "There is one thing that concerns me. My time at the academy is coming to an end and I'm worried about which of my classmates will share a team with me."

Koharu leveled a stern gaze at him. "That is not the concern of a student. The teams are formed with input from all of your teachers and the jonin who will be responsible for you while the ultimate decision lies with the Hokage. Your strengths will be carefully balanced."

Sasuke knew he had to treat very carefully here. "Of course. I don't mean to imply that I have the right to pick and choose my future teammates. It's just that I fear the teamwork will suffer greatly under certain combinations." He removed a scroll from his pocket and put it on the table. "I respectfully request that you consider the potential problems I have listed here. That is all I ask."

The two old shinobi shared a look. "We will consider your request."

* * *

"What do you make of young Sasuke's request?" Homura asked his fellow councilor after the boy had left them.

Koharu looked thoughtful. "It's unusual, but he might have a point. The teachers are not always aware of all the issues that should influence team assignment. The initial team is the most important thing for the development of the genin. If some unrecognized problems exists and are allowed to fester… Do you remember what happened to my nephew Daisuke's team?"

Homura shuddered. "Don't remind me. That was an unmitigated disaster."

The old woman nodded. "Yes, the tensions between the team members escalated at just the wrong moment. In the end we lost seven good people because of silly interpersonal conflicts."

"We might as well take a look at what young Sasuke has noted." Homura opened the scroll Sasuke had left. Koharu peered over his shoulder.

She shook her head when she was finished reading. "This infatuation of the girls with Sasuke could present a problem. I didn't think it would be this bad. Surely, he's exaggerating."

"Maybe he is; maybe he isn't. Graduation is still almost two months in the future." Homura looked at his old teammate. "Perhaps we should investigate ourselves, anonymously of course. I don't want Hiruzen or the teachers to know. Currently there aren't any pressing issues demanding our attention; we have the time."

Slowly a smile spread over Koharu's face before she nodded vigorously. "You're right. It will be just like the old times. It's been ages since I performed a good infiltration."

Homura answered with a smile of his own. "Time to break out the old equipment."

One month later Koharu and Homura were once again sitting together, papers with information about the academy students of Sasuke's class strewn over the table. The secret investigation had been fun and had reminded her of the time when she was still an active kunoichi. Unfortunately they didn't like what they had found and the mood was serious.

Koharu was the first to speak. "It's worse than I ever imagined. The skills of the students aren't what they should be in my opinion. They treat everything as if they are rich civilians who have all the time in the world to make mischief and play around. All those girls only think of romantic nonsense and nothing else. I never even thought of boys that way until I made chunin."

Her old teammate chuckled. "And when did you become chunin? At the age of twelve. We live in different times, Koharu. We became genin when we were eight. Almost all the current students will be halfway to thirteen when they graduate. Apart from young Sasuke's special situation their hormones make everything more difficult."

"I don't think the late enrollment and extended academy time is doing the children any favors. It sounded good when the reforms were introduced, but from what I saw they are missing vital skills." Koharu tapped on the files of the jonin selected to take on students this term. "Most of them graduated at age nine. Just like us they were already chunin at the same age this batch of students will become genin. Despite their longer academy time their abilities are much worse on average. I can't imagine that the new generation is inherently inferior; there has to be something wrong with the training."

Homura thoughtfully stroked his beard. "You're right, but it is unlikely we can convince Hiruzen of that. He was one of the main proponents of the academy reform in order to 'allow the students a childhood', after all. If he doesn't want to see something that goes against his ideals he closes his eyes to it. Just look at his pet project."

Koharu scowled. The Uzumaki boy was almost completely out of control. Until now they hadn't know the details (if Hiruzen declared someone or something his personal interest they stayed away from it), but the boy's academic record was catastrophic. If a normal student skipped so many classes he would have been expelled long ago, especially considering his abysmal grades. The same was true for his juvenile pranks; some might be excused as adolescent exuberance, but the sheer number and scale made it a different matter. It seemed the boy could accept no limits and had massive discipline problems; it was an insubordination waiting to happen. He was in dire need of a firm hand. Unfortunately it wasn't going to happen.

"We can do nothing about Naruto aside from hoping that his future sensei manages to offset the damage." she finally said. "By now it's too late for anything else and Hiruzen won't budge on the issue. I fear in his indulgence and quest to give the boy a 'normal' life he has crippled his future as a shinobi. Our fundamental disagreement about the handling of the boy aside he would have needed a personal tutor, remedial training and a fulltime parental figure other than the Hokage. Hiruzen is just too busy to properly supervise a child."

Her old friend nodded. "Currently Naruto is a liability, not an asset. I understand why Sasuke doesn't believe he can work with him. Rivalries can be successful in stimulating two people to reach new heights, but this one seems unhealthy to me. It will do more harm than good in my opinion." Homura set down his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before he continued speaking. "Yesterday I casually asked Hiruzen if the teams have already been planned. It hasn't been finalized, but the current setup pairs Sasuke with Naruto and Sakura Haruno under Kakashi Hatake. I have grave doubts about the wisdom of creating such a team."

The old woman looked at Homura curiously. "Why is that? Sasuke is the top student in the class; Naruto will be the dead-last if he even manages to graduate. They could hopefully balance each other out and Sasuke could help Naruto bring to the level he should be at. Kakashi is one of our top shinobi, perhaps even the best."

"Kakashi… has psychological baggage. It doesn't seem to interfere with his missions, but teaching and leading a cell of fresh genin is very different from having a few experienced shinobi under his command. In contrast to the other jonin he never taught anyone before. Do you think someone like him can deal properly with a love-struck girl who needs her ass kicked into gear repeatedly and proper motivation, an undisciplined, low-skilled loudmouth with a demon in his belly and a talented recluse like Sasuke? They have all very different needs."

Koharu leant back in her chair and considered the matter seriously. A capable sensei should be able to forge his genin into a cohesive unit. This proposed team had more problems than most and would require supreme teaching skills; skills they didn't know Kakashi possessed. That was the crux of the matter. They didn't know if Kakashi could do it. If he could make it work everything would be fine, but any mistake or failure would have long-lasting consequences. She would have preferred to assign Naruto and Sasuke to someone who had already demonstrated the extent of his teaching ability.

"Hiruzen will never consent to have someone else teach Naruto. Kakashi is his most trusted man and was the student of the boy's father. There's nobody else who could teach young Sasuke how to use his sharingan."

Homura waved her objection away. "The last argument doesn't hold water. I looked it up; Kakashi learned how to use his sharingan in self-study. Sasuke can do the same or we will have to look through the documents left behind by the Uchiha for hints. It isn't even certain Sasuke has the sharingan; not all Uchiha develop it. No, I think it best if we try to move Sasuke to another team. If Kakashi's effort goes sour we will lose only one critical asset, not two. Both Naruto and Sakura are at the top of Sasuke's list of people he doesn't think he can successfully work with long-term and I agree with that assessment. In about six months to a year the teams will be mixed temporarily anyway; Sasuke can learn to work with them after the initial critical period is over."

A moment later Koharu nodded. "I agree. Together we should be able to convince Hiruzen to reassign Sasuke. On the matter of the academy we should begin collecting proof in a quiet investigation. If our training produces sub-standard shinobi we will have to make corrections."

* * *

Sasuke sat impassively in the classroom, waiting for their sensei to arrive. It was the last day of the academy. Thankfully there had been no more nightmares, at least of the same intensity. He still didn't know if the appeal to his guardians had been successful, but he hoped for the best. Bringing the matter up again would make him appear as a petulant child that wanted to get his way.

He was a bit surprised to see Naruto enter the classroom. The idiot had failed the graduation test, but now a Konoha headband rested on his head. Since not even Naruto had the audacity to simply steal such a thing he must have graduated somehow in the end. Perhaps someone had intervened on his behalf. Putting the matter out of his mind he wondered in what way he would have to change his training regime. Until now he had mostly trained by himself after the academy closed and taken some general advice from his guardians, but a jonin would have far more experience in the matter.

Sasuke was so occupied with his thoughts that he even managed to partially ignore the shouting of Sakura and the other girls. He really hoped he would never have to suffer it again after today.

Suddenly Sasuke felt a small amount of killing intent. Turning his head slightly, he saw that Naruto was glaring at him.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"What do you mean, what?" Naruto shouted. He probably planned to say more, but Sakura carelessly shoved him aside.

"Sasuke-kun, can I sit next to you?" the pink-haired girl asked. Without waiting for an answer she sat down in the seat beside him, slowly inching closer and looking at him adoringly.

Sasuke felt sweat forming on his face. The (unfortunately not uncommon) situation was far too close to his nightmares. Still, he tried to ignore the girl as best as he could.

From one moment to another Naruto climbed on the desk in front of Sasuke and glared at him from close range.

'_What is the idiot's problem? Why can't he just leave me alone? All I want is some peace and quiet.'_

"NARUTO! LEAVE SASUKE-KUN ALONE!" Sakura screeched.

'_So much for peace and quiet…'_

"Kick his ass, Sasuke-kun." The comments from the peanut gallery weren't helping, either.

Suddenly he noticed that the boy in front of his seat was moving his arm backwards. He would jostle Naruto. Judging from their positions the blond boy would fall directly on top of him. Since he was sitting he wouldn't get away in time.

Sasuke's hands were already forming seals while these thoughts raced through his brain. He just needed a target… oh yes, that would do.

Almost without any transition Sasuke appeared in a seat in the back row of the class. The former occupant of the seat was now in his earlier position. A loud gasp from all the watching students indicated that the collision must have been spectacular.

When Sasuke saw what had happened he was very glad about what he had done and had to suppress laughter. He had switched with the one person in the room who wouldn't mind close contact with the blond boy. How the moron could miss that the girl was attracted to him Sasuke didn't know; neither could he fathom what the quiet girl saw in the loudmouth.

Naruto and Hinata were staring wide-eyed at each other, their lips tightly pressed together.

Total silence descended over the classroom as more and more people saw what had happened. Seconds ticked by until finally Hinata fainted, the biggest smile on her face that Sasuke had ever seen. Naruto blankly stared into space, his mouth hanging open.

'_I think I broke him. At least he's quiet for now.'_

Unfortunately, Sakura wasn't. "NARUTO! How do you dare to take advantage of Hinata!"

"It wasn't my fault, I swear."

A few minutes later Naruto had some bruises, a fuming Sakura sat beside him and a beet-red Hinata had returned to the last row, taking a free seat besides Sasuke. Sasuke watched her curiously. He wondered what her reaction would be. The kiss hadn't been intended, but depending on how Hinata saw that he might be in trouble.

The still furiously blushing Hinata gave him a small smile and whispered "Thank you."

Sasuke just nodded before facing the just arriving Iruka. Actually being thanked for performing a non-consensual kawarimi was unexpected, but considering that he had seen Hinata pining after Naruto for years without approaching him it was somewhat logical.

'_Perhaps now the moron will finally notice her.'_

Iruka's speech was different than in his nightmare, but it covered mostly the same topics. Soon enough it was time for the announcements of the teams. The announcement of the first six teams proceeded without incident, disregarding some mutterings of joy or displeasure.

"Team 7: Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzaka, Naruto Uzumaki."

"YEAH!" "NOOOOOO!"

Sasuke had to bite back a snigger that threatened to shatter his calm demeanor. Sakura and Naruto deserved each other. Kiba was sometimes almost as loud. _'I don't want to think about the fact that it could have been me; I really dodged a kunai there.'_

Hinata seemed momentarily dejected, but she perked up when Iruka called her name.

"Team 8: Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga, Sasuke Uchiha."

'_Jackpot.'_ Sasuke thought while many of his female admirers voiced their frustration. It seemed either fortune smiled upon him or his guardians had followed his request. He was with the two people he thought he could work with without too much annoyance. The future looked much brighter than only a few minutes ago.

* * *

**Author's notes: **As I said, this story is based on a story idea from **nobody102**. I plan on continuing this, but between my other two stories and real life updates will probably be very slow. Pairings are undecided at this point.

Please review and tell me what you think.

**Original story idea**: AU in which Sasuke isn't obsessed about vengeance, because he didn't really like his family. Since Sasuke is still a quiet, reserved person, few people know he's not terribly bothered by it, especially since mentioning the Uchiha annoys him greately. Even when they're all dead, he still cannot seem to escape their reach. A story of Sasuke's quest to make his own name in a world that insists on associating him with a clan he never felt he belonged in. A Sasuke-centric story, obviously, and one in which he doesn't become a traitor to Konoha.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I failed in acquiring ownership rights to Naruto

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 2**

Sasuke was content. He had just spent a pleasant lunch break with Hinata and Shino in a quiet and hidden roof garden. He figured that it would be advantageous to establish some rapport early. Considering that every teacher and every book preached the value of teamwork there had to be something to it. Sasuke was prepared to do everything reasonable that would further his goal of becoming a respected shinobi. It had been surprisingly enjoyable. None of them talked much, but they got along just fine. It was astonishing what you could learn in a few minutes of talking about people who had spent years in the same classroom without interacting much.

Shino was very much the stereotypical Aburame: stoic, calm, collected and solitary. His interest in all sorts of insects was only to be expected. He seemed to generally have the same goals as Sasuke, namely becoming a strong shinobi.

Hinata was serene, shy and very polite. Her kindness and empathy were definitely unusual traits for a Hyuuga. She seemed to suffer from a lack of self-confidence, though, but Sasuke supposed their sensei would work on such things.

Currently they were back on their way to the academy in a companionable silence. Sasuke idly wondered who their sensei would be. It was all kept very hush-hush. Some of the jonin he had seen over the years had been quite… strange. He hoped they wouldn't be stuck with some lazy slacker who would teach them hardly anything. That would be aggravating.

Sasuke's mood took a dive when he saw Sakura approaching. "Sasuke-kun, there you are! You just disappeared when we were speaking about us and our future."

"What are you talking about?" He really hoped the girl hadn't become delusional. Scratch that, become more delusional.

"Don't you remember? Just ten minutes ago you complimented me and we began talking." Then she blushed and giggled. "You suddenly left just when we got to the good part."

The thought alone threw Sasuke for a loop and he just gaped at her. Luckily Shino came to his rescue. "You are mistaken, Haruno-san. We have spent the entirety of the lunch break together. Whoever talked to you was not Sasuke-san."

Hinata nodded in agreement. "Shino is right. Sasuke-san never left."

"What? We were just about to kiss when… But… why… who would…?" For a few seconds Sakura simply stared at him before she seemed to realize something. Her expression became one of anger. "NARUTO!"

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief when Sakura took off to find the blond boy and resumed walking. Naruto could have gotten him into real trouble there, but Sakura would serve the moron his just deserts. A moment later he noticed that Hinata wasn't keeping up. Looking back, he saw that Hinata had lost the small smile she had worn ever since Naruto had involuntarily kissed her.

'_Great. The idiot just had to do something stupid.'_

He didn't really know how to deal with this situation. Giving relationship advice and cheering up depressed girls definitely didn't belong to his field of experience. From the looks of it Shino didn't know what to do either. Apparently it was up to him to do something. Well, if he wanted to become team leader (and he wanted that very much) he had to somehow deal with the situation.

"Are you alright?"

Hinata shook herself out of her daze. "S-Sorry. I'm fine."

"Didn't you talk to Naruto after you know what?" Sasuke asked after they had resumed walking.

"He just apologized. I couldn't say anything else aside from accepting his apology." Hinata replied, looking downcast.

"Oh. Okay."

Sasuke just didn't know what to say to that so he lapsed into silence. An extremely shy girl and an unobservant boy apparently didn't make a good mix. Luckily the three arrived in their classroom without further issues. After a few minutes Hinata seemed to regain her good mood at least somewhat.

Soon the room filled with their classmates, but fortunately none of the girls approached him. Naruto seemed to have acquired a few bruises. That didn't prevent him from joking with Kiba, though, so the beating he had probably received at Sakura's hands couldn't have been too bad.

A few minutes later Iruka-sensei entered the room followed by what could only be the jonin. One by one the teams were called and left the room with their assigned sensei. Team 7's sensei apparently hadn't arrived yet, but none of the jonin seemed surprised. The next one to step forward was a beautiful woman with black hair and red eyes clad in a strange dress that seemed to be made out of bandages. "Team 8, please follow me."

* * *

Sasuke barely managed to duck under a shuriken. He idly noted from the corner of his eye that it disappeared the moment it collided with a tree.

'_Another illusion.'_

He could unfortunately never tell beforehand; a still bleeding gash in his left arm reminded him of the fact that their sensei liked to mix real attacks with the plethora of illusions bombarding the team. After a relatively short introduction Kurenai Yuhi had led them to a wooded training field in the outskirts of Konoha for the true genin test. Sasuke shouldn't have been surprised that such a thing existed, but he was. Not all newly minted genin had the opportunity to learn under a jonin. It was only logical to assume that a jonin-sensei performed another test to see if his or her prospective pupils were good enough.

Their sensei had set them a seemingly easy task: At least one of them had to make it to the other side of the tree-covered training field before sunset. At first it had seemed far too easy, but soon they realized that it was anything but. The woods were always shifting, making trails appear and disappear at random. They had found themselves at their starting point before they even realized what was happening. Sometimes the path blurred into nothingness before their very eyes. A short strategy session later they had worked out a plan using their individual skills.

"Hinata, are our surroundings clear?" Sasuke asked when no more projectiles appeared.

The girl nodded. "I no longer see Kurenai-sensei. She has retreated beyond my range. There's a trap about ten meters before us. It looks like a grassy patch."

His female teammate could see through most illusions with her bloodline, but unfortunately she had neither the chakra reserves to keep her byakugan constantly activated nor the range to see more than a fraction of the extensive training ground. She mainly flashed it in regular intervals to lead them around traps. Unfortunately Kurenai was far too fast to be caught in that way; the jonin came and went like the wind.

"Good. Shino, lead on."

The Aburame nodded silently and led them into a direction Sasuke could have sworn was completely false. Shino's insects weren't affected by genjutsu and enabled him to find the right general direction.

They had barely made any progress when a snapping twig caught Sasuke's attention. "Incoming!"

Not even a second later he moved to intercept the attacking jonin, preventing her from reaching Hinata. A short but furious taijutsu duel later Kurenai-sensei once again disappeared into the woods, leaving a panting and bruised Sasuke behind. He harbored no illusions that he could beat a jonin, but Kurenai-sensei limited herself to a level that he could match with some effort.

"Do you need to rest?" a concerned Hinata asked.

Sasuke shook his head after he wiped some sweat off. "No time. I'm still good to go and we can't afford to become a sitting target."

"That is obviously false. In your current state you won't be able to fight off another attack." Shino disagreed. "Five minutes will make no difference."

The black-haired boy frowned for a moment before he nodded. Shino was right; he needed a few minutes to catch his breath. Sasuke plopped down on a nearby tree stump. The Aburame spread more of his bugs in the vicinity to warn them of incoming attacks. Hinata used the opportunity to bandage the wound on his arm.

In his opinion no time at all had passed before Shino signaled that it was time to proceed. Wearily Sasuke stood up, wincing slightly when his leg muscles protested. The others had some scrapes and bruises, but he was far more beaten up than them. It was actually a sign that he did his job.

That was his role: intercept attacks meant for his teammates. It grated somewhat on his ego, but he was the expendable one in this situation. Without Shino they wouldn't be able to find their way. Without Hinata they would walk into traps. Without him… well, the team could still succeed.

'A shinobi must always put the mission first' was one of the shinobi rules taught to them at the academy. Their mission was to pass the test. Sasuke wasn't strictly needed for the success. Ergo, he was the one to fight off attacks. Since he was the best fighter anyway it made sense. Their sensei had obviously designed the test with their skills in mind. She had started attacking shortly after they began using their routine to navigate the forest.

They had made hardly any progress when once again kunai and shuriken came from nowhere with no warning. Sasuke gritted his teeth when he used a kunai of his own to deflect the ones most likely to hit his teammates. _'I can do this.'_

The sun was still a good distance away from the horizon when the three genin stumbled out of the forest. All of them had acquired more than a few bruises and the occasional cut, but no one had sustained incapacitating injuries. Hinata sat down on the grass and Shino simply lay down, too exhausted to remain standing. Sasuke wasn't in much better shape, but he kept standing on his slightly trembling legs. The last part had been especially hard. Their sensei had actually chased them through the forest at the end.

"We made it." Sasuke gasped out. Hinata was too winded to reply with words, but she gave him a smile. Shino didn't react.

A smiling Kurenai-sensei appeared before them in a swirl of leaves. "Congratulations, you pass. Starting today you are full-fledged genin of the Leaf. Rest a bit for now; then you can go home to clean up. I reserved a table at the _Culinary Delights_ in about three hours. Does anyone require medical attention?"

In the end Kurenai checked each of them over, but their injuries were light enough that none of them had any need to visit the hospital. Their sensei took care of the more troublesome injuries via a few applications of medical techniques before she sent them on their way.

'_That went well. Hinata was better than I expected from her time at the academy.'_

Despite his aching bruises Sasuke felt pretty good when he returned to his apartment after the celebration. Not only had they managed to complete their sensei's test, he found he could work with his new teammates without problems. Of course, one day didn't make a career, but he was hopeful. There didn't seem to be any insurmountable issues. Sasuke shuddered when he tried to imagine being on a team with Sakura or Naruto. He probably wouldn't even have made an attempt to work with them; both were thoroughly useless and annoying. His teammates were much better suited to him.

"My teammates." Sasuke said to himself when he got ready for bed, as if testing the word. It had a nice ring to it.

* * *

Kurenai Yuhi attentively watched her pupils weeding a garden. She wasn't entirely sure what the purpose of assigning missions was that amounted to little more than unskilled labor to theoretically fully qualified genin. They didn't really help her to assess her genin or prepare them for more dangerous missions; the exercises she had them do were far more useful for that. There had certainly been no such missions of that sort when she had graduated the academy eighteen years ago. On the other hand that had been during wartime. Whatever the reason, she was forced to perform a few more D-ranks inside the village before she would be allowed to take her team into the field.

The problem was that it was boring. Now, as an experienced kunoichi Kurenai could deal with boredom. That didn't mean she enjoyed it. Her jonin rank was still brand-new; she had been promoted only a little more than a year ago after thirteen years as a chunin. Privately she thought that she should have been promoted earlier, but unfortunately she had originally lacked the connections. After all, pure skill was only a part of the requirements of the rank. Full jonin were the military and political elite of the village and it was difficult to become one; even some clan and department heads were only special jonin. It had taken her quite a few years of scheming and playing the political game to get the juicy assignments that helped her garner those oh so very necessary connections and favors. At least her stint as an academy instructor a decade ago had helped to qualify her for missions like privately tutoring the Kurama heiress, even if that particular endeavor had been a failure she didn't like to think about too much. Other assignments went better and finally it had been sufficient for getting the promotion.

Being allowed to teach a fresh team of genin after only one year as a jonin had come as a surprise, but it wasn't unwelcome. Getting the rookie of the year had been an even bigger surprise. She had expected Kakashi to take over his education, both because of the sharingan and because he was the senior jonin of the three instructors with passing teams this term. Well, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

After about an hour of work the genin were finally finished with their task and approached her, Hinata in front. "We're finished, sensei."

Kurenai had surveyed every stage of the work and had seen that everything was in order. She smiled at the genin before she retrieved three small scrolls she had prepared during the time the genin worked. "Good work. You are free to go home, but I want you to review these scrolls about the dispelling of genjutsu until tomorrow. Don't experiment; we will do that together once you master the theory."

As soon as her team had left Kurenai headed home. All in all she was pleased with how the team dynamics developed. The three genin tried to get along and generally succeeded. Their skills while generally acceptable were another matter. There were curious holes in their education that disturbed her deeply. It might have been because she was a genjutsu user herself, but the basic dispelling technique for genjutsu was such an important survival tool that she was at a loss at the fact that it obviously wasn't taught at the academy anymore. It led her to wonder how exactly the academy teachers had assessed the students' aptitude for genjutsu when they didn't try to teach any actual genjutsu skills. The Henge and Bunshin were more ninjutsu than genjutsu, after all. As it was even an absolute beginner in genjutsu could take out an entire team if he didn't have the bad luck to encounter genin with a bloodline that countered genjutsu. She might not even have discovered the problem if Sasuke didn't ask about it after the true genin test. It wasn't the only example of missing skills she considered vital that she had discovered.

'_Maybe it is because of the traitor teaching at the academy. He was in a position to do a lot of damage, but that doesn't explain why no other teacher picked up on it or why the Hokage didn't order an in-depth review of all students taught by Mizuki.'_

Sometime in the next few days she would have to acquire copies of the academy curriculum the kids should have been taught and compare it with their actual skills as well as the materials she retained from her own education and her teaching period. It just wouldn't do to simply assume they possessed some skills they in fact didn't have.

'_I can only thank the gods for Sasuke's drive to learn more skills.'_

Other people might have considered Sasuke's sometimes borderline rude requests for learning more shinobi knowledge annoying, but Kurenai was in fact glad for it. Well, the fact that once she sat down with him and worked out a detailed training plan for the next weeks he was perfectly happy was even more fortunate. Kids that only wanted to learn flashy skills were a blight on the world, but in her experience most problems could be solved by explaining why they had to lay the groundwork first. Sasuke seemed to be content as long as he made progress and knew why he was doing something. He even seemed to motivate Shino and Hinata to broaden their horizons to more than their clan techniques. Of course, it was still early and nothing definite had come of it yet.

With a sigh of relief Kurenai entered her apartment. Despite everything teaching was stressful work. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she needed a second longer than usual to notice that there was someone in the room who shouldn't be there, giving the intruder the opportunity to act first. "Good evening, Yuhi-san."

Kurenai blinked in surprise. The village elder Koharu Utatane was sitting at her kitchen table, waiting patiently with her folded hands before her. Still, she wouldn't be a jonin if she couldn't recover almost instantly from surprises. "Good evening, Utatane-sama. Might I be allowed to ask what you are doing in my apartment? I'm pretty sure I locked and secured the door and windows."

The old woman chuckled lightly. "Indeed, the door was locked. I have to say it was good work; I needed almost two minutes to get through." Then she grew serious. "I apologize for intruding in this manner. This is a strictly informal visit. I would like to talk about your team. Of course, if you wish I will leave immediately and this meeting never happened."

Thoughts raced in Kurenai's head. This was completely irregular. The old woman before her was one of the most well connected and politically powerful people in the village. Kurenai didn't have the slightest idea what she could want from her; her own connections were far more low-level.

'_This is an opportunity I can't afford to waste. An association with the village elder will open more doors in the future.'_

Kurenai put a smile on her face. "You are always welcome in my home, Utatane-sama. What can I do for you? Might I offer you some coffee or tea?"

"Yes, some coffee would be appreciated."

During the entire process of preparing two cups of coffee Kurenai felt the village elder's eyes on her. It was an unnerving feeling.

"I guess it is best to start at the beginning. Recently my fellow elder Homura Mitokado and I have become aware of some worrying trends at the academy. Since you have been teaching the newest batch of graduates for two weeks by now I would be interested in your assessment." Koharu opened the conversation.

The jonin blinked. Such an innocuous question didn't justify this clandestine meeting. "I see. Before I answer I would like to know why you came to me in this manner. You could have simply summoned me."

"A good point. There are several reasons, actually. Most importantly, we are currently conducting a very quiet and unofficial investigation. It was only a couple of months ago that we became aware of the potential problem." Koharu sighed. "Unfortunately, the Hokage doesn't seem to treat the matter with the necessary urgency. We are collecting proof to convince him to start a thorough formal inquiry. In light of the recent discovery of a traitor in a teaching position it seems more important than ever. There might be more undiscovered traitors and we don't want to alert them. As for why I came to you? You have prior experience as a teacher in a variety of positions. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of your fellow jonin-sensei."

'_That is true.'_ Kurenai had to admit to herself. To her knowledge neither Kakashi nor Asuma had ever taught anyone before. She didn't see any problem with answering the elder's question; her thoughts had strayed in a similar direction just this evening.

"I must start by saying that I have yet to conduct a full evaluation of their skills, so all of this is preliminary. Sasuke is where a good graduate should be skill-wise. Shino and Hinata are weaker, but still in the acceptable range." Kurenai hesitated for a moment. She would commit herself if she spoke her mind. "I did notice curious holes in their education, but I have yet to determine the details. Additionally, they are all not as good as I would have expected from the reports and relative class ranking. Even taking their later enrollment into account their skills don't reflect the longer academy time. My own time at the academy happened under the shortened war curriculum that stressed practical skills with immediate usefulness. When I taught myself the training was still accelerated because of the losses inflicted by the Kyuubi. It could be a matter of perspective."

"Do you truly believe that?"

Kurenai shook her head. "No. Some differences are to be expected, but nothing like this. For example, none of my students knew the basic genjutsu dispelling technique. That was a graduating requirement both when I was a student and when I taught. I plan to do a full assessment in the next days as well as compare the different academy curricula."

Koharu's face had become grim. "I understand. Would you please inform me of your findings? This just might be what we are looking for."

"Of course. I'm always happy to help."

The old woman stood up and favored her with a smile. "I thank you for your time and effort, Yuhi-san. You are indeed worthy addition to the jonin corps. I see our decision to leave young Sasuke in your care was justified. Is one week enough time or should I return at a later point for your report?"

She had to think a moment. "That would be acceptable. By then I should have completed the assessment."

After seeing the councilor out of the door Kurenai relaxed on the couch. She really hoped her worries proved to be unfounded, but considering that the matter had attracted the attention of the village elders that was unlikely. The two normally didn't get involved in such details if it wasn't for a good reason.

'_At least I already noticed the discrepancies. This will reflect well on me and my future career. Although it seems I came to the elders' attention before if they deliberately placed Sasuke with me. That answers that question, at least.'_

* * *

Sasuke's mouth fell open. "What did you say, sensei?"

Kurenai nodded grimly. "I said your education was sabotaged. It isn't immediately obvious, but there is missing knowledge or false information in many subjects. You are not at the level of competence you should be. Apparently the learning objectives were lowered without anyone noticing."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "Is this the reason you tested us so extensively last week, sensei?"

"Yes. I grew slightly suspicious on our first day when you had a bit more trouble with the illusions in my test than I would have expected."

Hinata had grown even paler than usual. "Do we have to go back to the academy?"

Kurenai shook her head. "No. Now that I have a good grip on what exactly is missing or false I can fix your problems without too much trouble. Almost everything I discovered would lower your combat efficiency in the long run by some degree, but it isn't crippling. Whoever did this was very subtle for the most part. Mainly you have just lost some time. We can compensate by stepping up your training."

Sasuke clenched his fists. He could feel the anger bubbling inside of him. All things that hampered his progress as a shinobi earned his undying hatred. He had been taught for years by a traitor without realizing it. Originally he didn't know what had happened to the white-haired instructor, but recently he had heard some rumors about him being imprisoned for trying to steal a scroll containing village secrets. "Was it Mizuki?"

"At least partly, yes. There is more, though. Ultimately he was only one man and he didn't have the means to introduce the changes in the textbooks I noticed. There are definitely more people involved." Kurenai looked intently at them. "Please keep this to yourself for now. Don't talk with anyone about it, not even your parents. Investigations are ongoing and we don't want to warn the culprits."

A few hours later Kurenai had left them to their own devices after giving them instructions for independent study. In this case it was improving their tree walking. Kurenai-sensei had taught them the technique in their first week and by now all of them could do it, but they still used it daily to improve their chakra reserves and control.

It had become their usual schedule to begin the day with either a mission or team exercise followed by joint training and lessons. Then Kurenai would give them some assignments to solve in self-study and take one of them aside for individual training. On some days like today there was no individual training, but it was a relatively rare occurrence. All in all it was a comfortable routine, even if D-rank missions were very annoying. Sasuke couldn't wait to finally leave the village for a real mission.

Shino had to leave them earlier than usual for some clan event. Sasuke and Hinata used the opportunity for another spar. As usual Sasuke won, but he didn't really enjoy his victory. By now he had noticed that Hinata wasn't really fighting with her full potential. She simply lacked aggressiveness and seemed to have real problems hitting people she didn't consider enemies. Sasuke hoped they would be able to work that problem out; it had the potential to become a real liability.

"What do you think about what sensei told us?" Hinata asked when they rested on the grassy ground.

Sasuke shrugged, not that Hinata was able to see it. "I believe her when she says we aren't at the expected level and I'm angry that no one noticed before. My guardians sometimes talked a bit about the time when they were young. I think they became genin when they were eight, but I just assumed the academy taught us more in that longer time. We currently aren't at war, so there isn't any pressure to churn out shinobi as quickly as possible. Did your family ever speak about the old times?"

"Not really."

Sasuke had noticed that Hinata didn't like to talk about her family and always stayed away from the Hyuuga clan compound as long as she could. In the same vein she grew slightly depressed at the end of each day when she had to return. He supposed her family life wasn't especially nice, but he didn't pry. When his clan had still been alive he had been in a similar situation, but he wouldn't have wanted to talk about it or for other people to butt in.

The last Uchiha sighed. "I guess we just have to work harder to make up for lost time. Hopefully no one from our graduating class will do any missions were a lack of skill will cause problems."

* * *

"I'm the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to provide me with super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

'_Why couldn't the idiot stay silent?'_ Kiba thought while he tried to ignore the stench of cheap sake and an unwashed body. Akamaru was already making gagging noises. _'That has to be the worst client ever. Well, I suppose it's better than waiting hours each day for Kakashi-sensei. I wish mom would believe me that he isn't teaching us anything. '_

* * *

**Author's notes: **Thank you for the reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: (Waves hand) This isn't the intellectual property you are looking for.

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 3**

Konoha was most beautiful in the early morning hours just after dawn in Sasuke's opinion. The air was fresh and the bustle was still concentrated in some areas before it spilled into the entire village. There were always some people going about their business, but during the early morning there was a slight lull. It was his favorite time for taking walks. Sasuke liked wandering through the village, but he didn't like crowds. He was already on his way towards Team 8's meeting spot when he noticed Hinata crouching before a fence with her back towards him. Team 7's normal meeting place was just around the corner.

'_Apparently she is still trying to spy on Naruto. I don't think she knows that Team 7 left the village yesterday.'_

At most times Kurenai-sensei kept them too busy, but Hinata always spied on Naruto when she found some free time, mostly in the mornings. Apparently Team 7's daily meeting time was earlier than Team 8's, but their sensei was always late. It made Sasuke glad that he hadn't been assigned to Team 7. The constant unpunctuality would have been very aggravating. Anyway, that situation allowed Hinata the opportunity to spy on her crush. Sasuke and Shino knew about it, but none of them had yet confronted Hinata about her stalking habit. As long as she got to their team meetings in time and didn't neglect her training Sasuke didn't plan to make an issue out of it, even if he was at a loss what Hinata saw in the loudmouth and why she stalked him. That habit couldn't be healthy. It was pure chance that he knew about Team 7's absence; he had overheard some off-duty gate guards talking about it when he bought a new spool of wire yesterday evening.

Sasuke walked up to Hinata until he was directly behind her. The girl was so absorbed in observing the target area that she completely missed his approach. "You know, Team 7 currently isn't in the village."

"EEEEEEP!"

Hinata jumped in surprise before turning around, a guilty expression on her face. It wasn't the first time he had stumbled onto her while she was stalking her crush. Sasuke couldn't help himself: He smirked while Hinata tried to regain her composure.

"Please don't do that, Sasuke-kun." she finally managed to get out.

Sasuke's smirk grew a bit wider. "You should pay more attention to your surroundings. I managed to walk right up to you because you were so concentrated on watching that spot."

"Sorry." For a moment Hinata looked embarrassed before she remembered what he had said earlier. "What did you say about Team 7?"

"I overheard some shinobi talking about it who had guard duty. Team 7 left Konoha yesterday shortly before noon with some old man in tow. I think Kakashi took them out for a C-rank. No idea when they will be back."

"Oh." Hinata looked downcast upon hearing that.

It made Sasuke uncomfortable, but he wasn't the right kind of person to deal with such things. Neither he nor Shino were social people; despite her shyness Hinata was the most suitable for dealing with interpersonal relationships. "Come on, we have to go or we'll be late."

Sasuke was tempted to ask why Hinata followed Naruto around or why she liked him so much when the boy had only eyes for Sakura, but he didn't want to intrude. He didn't like it when other people made his private life their business and the last he could do was grant the same courtesy to his teammates. In the past weeks they had grown closer, but they were still not what most people would call friends although they were slowly getting there. Not that Sasuke had any personal experience with that concept; he was a loner by nature. Sasuke valued peace and quiet; that was rather unusual for a child. Luckily both his teammates did have similar preferences.

During his academy time many had tried to get close to him, but they were usually really loud, annoying girls with romantic delusions like Sakura and Ino or obnoxious, talentless hangers-on. They would have only held him back in his pursuit of becoming a good shinobi. What they did manage was to scare away the few people who he might have befriended under other, more relaxed circumstances. That wasn't even talking about the idiots like Naruto who tried to become his rival for some reason.

The young Uchiha sometimes wondered what went through the blond boy's head. His professed goal of becoming Hokage was completely absurd in light of his abilities. Sasuke could have respected such an ambitious goal if Naruto had invested the necessary effort and had at least some vague plan how to achieve that, but that wasn't the case. He just shouted at every opportunity that he wanted to become Hokage without giving any indication to the how. His grades were abysmal and he tried to skip class more often than not. If he had been serious about becoming Hokage he would have grit his teeth, sat down to work and done his best; no matter how difficult academic subjects were for him. That bragging without backing it up had earned him Sasuke's disdain more than any other idiotic behavior.

Sasuke had noticed that most of the adult population shunned Naruto and whispered behind his back even if he had been unable to learn the reason. No one wanted to talk about the issue, not even his guardians. His personal guess was that the boy's parents had been traitors, deserters or something like it and the Sandaime had forbidden speaking about them to give their child a chance outside of their shadow. If that was the case Naruto squandered that chance by antagonizing the entire village with his inane pranks. Actions like defacing the Hokage monument would infuriate even people who had originally nothing against Naruto; not to mention that it showed the boy's disrespect for the position he ostensibly wanted to reach.

'_And if that wasn't worse enough he always gets away with light punishment. The Hokage seems to indulge him for some reason. Any other child would have been thrown out of the academy by now; orphan or not.'_

There were orphans everywhere; half of the people in their class were missing at least one parent. The Kyuubi attack and the third shinobi war before that had produced a lot of orphans. It even happened frequently enough during peace time; the profession of shinobi was a dangerous one. Sasuke didn't feel he and Naruto shared any bond because of that, but judging from Naruto's mutterings he had overheard the blond boy felt differently for some reason. Heck, sometimes Sasuke wondered if Naruto knew about the Uchiha massacre. He was certainly dense enough to miss something the entire village talked about for years.

Sasuke would have happily ignored the annoying boy, but Naruto was extremely obnoxious and couldn't take a hint. It was made worse by his crush on Sakura, the loudest of his admirers. Naruto was apparently completely unable to recognize that Sasuke wanted nothing to do with the annoying girl. That Naruto didn't leave her alone even after she had made it clear that she didn't like him was only another example of the blond boy's habit to ignore the facts.

An elbow gently poking into his side brought him out of his musings. They had reached their training ground and Kurenai-sensei was looking at him with a slightly amused expression; his two teammates stood to his sides. He had completely lost track of his surroundings while he dwelled on his thoughts.

Sasuke blinked. "Sorry sensei, I spaced out for a time."

Kurenai's expression grew even more amused. "That was very obvious. If you are ready I would like to go over today's lesson. We still have to cover quite a lot of material until you are ready for a C-rank mission."

They had finally mastered the basic genjutsu dispelling technique and honed their ability to recognize genjutsu to a sufficient degree that their sensei was satisfied. It wouldn't help them against a skilled genjutsu user (as Kurenai-sensei had immediately demonstrated), but it would prevent them from being overwhelmed by a beginner.

Under other circumstances Sasuke would have been angry about Team 7 leaving the village on a C-rank mission before them, but in light of their sabotaged education it was better to make sure they could deal with all potential threats. According to Kurenai-sensei they were still missing critical skills like security measures while travelling. Other tactics they had been taught were outdated and suboptimal. Until they fixed all glaring problems Kurenai-sensei refused to let them leave the village. It was nice to have a sensei that cared about their well-being. Sasuke still resented being confined to the village, though.

'_I wonder how the higher-ups could miss such things for so long.'_

* * *

Seconds passed by in total silence while the grim-faced people in the room tried to come to grips with the newly revealed information. Besides the Hokage and the two elders only three people were present. They had to keep the number as low as possible until they launched a full-scale investigation. Inoichi Yamanaka was the head of Konoha's Intelligence Division; Ibiki Morino led the subordinate Torture & Interrogation Department; the ANBU Raven was the captain of ANBU's Investigation Squad. Notably absent were the heads of the education and counter-intelligence departments. They had failed in their tasks and were considered either incompetent or compromised for the moment. As to the people present… well, if those were compromised they might as well surrender to their enemies.

"Are you sure?" Inoichi finally asked.

Koharu nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. The proof we collected is irrefutable. The academy education has been deliberately sabotaged for years. Currently we aren't sure exactly how long that has been the case; this will be for the official investigation to determine."

Ibiki posed the next question. "Why wasn't the sabotage noticed earlier?"

Homura shook his head. "Whoever did this was very subtle for the most part. For example, the normal chakra exercises were replaced by less effective ones. They still get the job done, but are slightly more difficult to master and take some time longer to achieve the same result. The same applies for other subjects and exercises."

"All things considered, the graduates have on average twenty to twenty five percent less combat efficiency than a comparable genin from before the third shinobi war. Of course, the matter is complicated by the different graduation age and individual variations. Back then most people became genin by ten with the talented ones graduating even earlier. Two years of additional physical development make a big difference. Other things have been shuffled from after-graduation education to the academy and back again several times. Some subjects have been dropped entirely while others have been newly introduced and the actual content of the lessons has been changed several times. The teachers wouldn't know that there is something wrong; most chunin don't serve long enough in a teaching position to get a real basis for comparison before they return to active duty." Koharu explained.

Twenty percent didn't sound much, but in the shinobi world it could mean the difference between life and death. Furthermore, it was only an average. Some people like young Sasuke still performed nearly up to standard while others were hampered even further. The affected shinobi would still improve, but they started from a lower starting point than if the education had been ideal. In the long term it gave Konoha's forces a huge disadvantage in any conflict with other powers.

Once again Homura took over. "Our best guess is that the sabotage truly started after we re-organized the academy about three years after the Kyuubi attack. We think it possible they got their people into position in the aftermath of the war or in the chaos following the Kyuubi attack. The educational reform gave them the opportunity. This is far more than the work of a single person. There have to be several people in key positions involved, especially in the bureaucratic staff. We already checked and the dossiers forwarded to us don't match the books and lesson plans printed in important details. The formal teaching goals have been manipulated as well, setting the requirements lower than they should be."

"We might have never noticed this subtle sabotage. If any older shinobi took notice and talked about the matter it would have been discounted as nostalgic glorification of the good old times. As far we can tell the more egregious examples of sabotage like missing key skills only showed up in the last two to three years. We suspect a different group to be responsible. This sort of sabotage is far cruder. In fact, it should have drawn attention earlier." Koharu concluded with a sigh.

"Who was responsible for overseeing the academy curriculum and teaching goals aside from the education department?" Raven asked.

"That would be me." Hiruzen sounded much older than usual. All vitality was gone from his voice. "I never noticed anything amiss in the reports. There was never the time or occasion for me to check personally." Then he steeled himself. "I authorize a full-scale investigation. Find the full extent of this conspiracy."

"Better make it a general house-cleaning, Hiruzen." Homura interrupted. "For several plots of this size to stay undiscovered there have to be traitors all over the place. We are looking at a massive counter-intelligence failure over the span of a decade. There is no telling what other plots might be afoot. Perhaps even department heads have been compromised."

Koharu felt her chest grow heavy. What her old teammate harmlessly referred to as 'house-cleaning' was a metaphor for something far more sinister. It meant people disappearing without a trace in the depths of the Interrogation department, countless minds raped, bodies broken and families ripped apart. Innocents would be hurt; that was unavoidable in spite of all the precautions taken. It wasn't something anyone wanted done to their village. Ultimately it was Hiruzen's decisions. Still, the scale of the sabotage they were looking at justified it in her opinion. They had been lax in their security and vigilance.

Hiruzen closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. After five seconds he nodded slowly and put on a determined expression. "You are right. We simply can't take the chance. Inoichi, Ibiki, Raven, you have a completely free hand. Do whatever is necessary to get to the bottom of this. Establish a core of cleared personnel and work from there. Personal rights of suspects are hereby suspended. Do whatever you have to do to root this treason out. I want to be immediately informed of any other plots you discover."

If anything the faces in the room grew even grimmer, but no one objected. One by one the people filed out of the room. Koharu stayed behind. She had to talk with Hiruzen privately. They all had made mistakes and they had to make sure they wouldn't make any more. Koharu was the closest to him; the two elders had decided it was best if she handled things. For almost a minute silence reigned until Hiruzen spoke up.

"I failed the children. I should have noticed."

Koharu sighed internally. This would be difficult. She didn't want to hurt her old teammate, but there were things that had to be said in a painfully blunt manner. "Yes, you should have."

Hiruzen looked up, the hurt visible in his eyes. Apparently he had expected reassurance. Koharu stood up from her chair and moved to his side, taking his hands into hers.

"You are slowly slipping. We all are. It is our task to advise you and catch any mistake. This mess is as much our failure as it is yours. There is no telling what else we might have overlooked over the years." She sighed deeply. "We are old, Hiruzen, too old for our jobs. I'm the youngest of us and even I will turn seventy in little more than fifteen months. In a few days my first great-great-grandchild will be born. There are only fifteen people left in Konoha who are older than us. None of them occupy any position of importance. We should have retired for good years ago."

"Koharu…"

"You know you work too much. Did you think we wouldn't notice that you are no longer able to keep up the number of shadow clones you used to stay on top of the paperwork? In fact, you have stopped using those years ago. Homura and I had fun doing our investigation, but at the same time it showed us how far our skills and bodies have deteriorated. You were always the strongest of us, but old age isn't an enemy even you can defeat. It has been nearly thirteen years since Minato died and it is far past time for you to choose a new successor. You taking up the position again after Minato's death was only intended as a temporary measure."

"I suppose you want me to name Danzo as the new Hokage?" Hiruzen asked in a dark voice.

"No." Koharu chuckled slightly at Hiruzen's surprised expression. "I admit both I and Homura are often closer to his opinion than yours. That doesn't mean we want to see him as Hokage. Everything I said about us applies to Danzo, too. What use would be choosing a man as the Godaime who can only expect to live a few more years? The situation of the village would have been dire for us to consider that. Besides, you at least suspect what he is doing and turn a blind eye."

Grudgingly, Hiruzen nodded.

"I don't agree with him on all issues, but he has an important point. You have grown too soft on some issues, Hiruzen. Danzo is cleaning up the messes you prefer to ignore. This is undermining your authority, but deep down you know it is necessary. Otherwise you would have him imprisoned or killed years ago."

"There isn't anything wrong with wanting peace." Hiruzen calmly replied.

"No, there isn't… up to a point. Your belief in the Will of Fire, the village and our fellow shinobi is what made you a great Hokage, but ever since you took up the mantle again there have been more and more lapses in judgment on your part. You only listen to Homura and me when it suits your own ideas and ignore things you don't want to hear. Orochimaru is a prime example. Naruto is another one." She held up her hand to forestall his protests. "I'm not talking about that you didn't turn him into a weapon or what you arranged for his upbringing. It isn't what I would have preferred, but that was your decision. The problem is that you honestly expected the village would treat him as a hero."

"It is what Minato asked of me. He wanted his son to be seen as a hero. I wasn't about to ignore his dying wish."

Koharu sighed. "Then you are a kind-hearted fool, Hiruzen. Such naivety is unbecoming for a Hokage. I can only chalk it up to Minato's mind being clouded by his imminent death that he thought such a thing would work. No known jinchuuriki has been treated well at first. If what I hear from Kumo is true some managed to overcome that over the years, but they were sealed much later than Naruto in the first place and knew a normal life before that. Mito and Kushina were only able to live a normal life because almost nobody knew what they contained. I know you wanted the best for him, but you botched that."

The Hokage seemed to deflate. "Yes, I did. I made a right mess out of things. What I should have done is keep his status a secret and either find him a family, political power shifts be damned, or simply order someone to act as a parent. There just wasn't enough time in the day for me to take over that duty, too. I had faith the villagers would see him as a hero, not a weapon or a monster."

The old woman nodded slowly. "Yes; and that belief is your greatest strength and your greatest weakness. You want to believe in your fellow villagers despite evidence to the contrary. Just as you wanted to believe Orochimaru would be a better man than the monster he truly is."

Hiruzen visibly flinched. It was a low blow, but the mistake was genuine and she had to convince him.

"You always held those beliefs, but in the past you could look beyond them. For the past years misplaced sentimentality has blinded you far too often. Homura and I share the blame; together our stubbornness to hold onto power harmed the village. It is time to let go, Hiruzen. I'm not asking you to step down immediately, but you need to name a successor. You are helping no one if you simply keel over one day and the village has to search for a candidate. Depending on the situation that might be catastrophic." she gently explained.

The Hokage simply looked at her, not uttering a word.

"I know you want one of your students or perhaps Minato's son to succeed you, but you simply can't wait that long. Jiraiya won't accept. He is strong, but far too independent to be tied down in the village. Just consider how many summons to return he has ignored. Tsunade hasn't been in the village since the war ended. She is a gambling addict and an alcoholic. Her losses broke her. Even if you could convince her to come back the pressure of the job might destroy her completely. Regarding Naruto… it will be a long time until he is ready, if ever. None of us has that long left. At our age we might simply die in our sleep. Please Hiruzen, for Konoha's sake choose a successor. We need an orderly transfer of power."

For a moment Hiruzen's expression remained unreadable. Then his face became resigned. "Who do you suggest? Mind you, I'm not agreeing with you, but I would like to hear your opinion."

Koharu felt some of the tension leave her body. At least Hiruzen was willing to listen. "I know we have no other Kage-level shinobi in the village, but we will have to make do. A clan head would be best. Kakashi is another possibility. Gai is strong, but I don't think he is completely sane anymore. Whoever you choose, we have to prepare and brief him carefully. There are secrets a new Hokage has to learn and we might not be able to pass that knowledge along if a new Hokage has to take over amidst a crisis. The transition has to be smooth."

Hiruzen looked away from her and sighed. "I will think about it."

That was better than Koharu had expected. She had feared Hiruzen would be stubborn and try to cling even longer to power. If the three of them worked together they should be able to bring a successor up to speed quickly. They might even manage to train replacement advisors to enable them to retire; that wouldn't be possible if a new Hokage needed their insider knowledge. Over time they would hand over more and more duties until they were no longer needed by the Godaime and his advisors. She might even get to enjoy her retirement before she died.

* * *

The sun was already nearing the horizon when Sasuke watched Hinata sparring with Shino. Shino was dominating the fight. Once again it was obvious to him that Hinata wasn't living up to her potential. He knew she could fight better than that; when she worked on a training dummy her performance was much better. A look to the side showed him that Kurenai-sensei was frowning at the display. Despite the team's best efforts Hinata's lack of self-confidence remained a problem.

Suddenly an idea came to Sasuke.

'_That could work or it might drive Hinata even further into her shell. Additionally, it depends on sensei's talent.'_

The spar didn't look like as if it would end soon. There was enough time left. After he finished explaining his idea Kurenai looked at him skeptically before she sighed. "I guess it is worth a shot. Nothing else has worked."

A few minutes later the fight ended with Shino as the winner. After a short pause it was Sasuke's turn to go against Hinata. The fight began as usual. Hinata was hesitant and Sasuke could have ended it at any time. Winning wasn't the purpose of a spar, though, it was honing one's combat skills. He began pressing Hinata harder and harder, but without crossing the threshold where she no longer could keep up. Or rather where she would lose confidence and quit. Sasuke kept the intensity just below the point where Hinata would always give up. He had to push her into a state where she couldn't really think about things anymore. Soon both combatants were drenched in sweat.

Suddenly a familiar, annoying voice sounded from the edge of the battle field. "Hinata! You can do it! I believe in you! You can beat the bastard!"

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata whispered before a look of determination appeared on her face.

From the corner of his eyes Sasuke could see the blond boy standing at the edge of the training ground, cheering Hinata on. Then he had no more time for idle observations. Hinata's movements picked up speed and grace and he had to work hard to defend himself. With the constant support Hinata became better and better; her fighting becoming more aggressive by the second. From one moment to the next bulging veins signaled that she had activated her bloodline without her usual hand seal.

Under normal circumstances Sasuke could beat her even if she used the Gentle Fist, but now she moved just fast enough that he was no longer able to deflect her strikes completely. One…two…three hits to his right arm and he lost the feeling in his limb. Taijutsu required the channeling of chakra into one's muscles and Hinata's attacks were disrupting the flow. He knew she wasn't yet able to close tenketsu with reliability, but she could target his chakra network in general.

With his temporarily crippled arm Sasuke was no longer able to fend off attacks. It took Hinata only a few seconds to break through his guard. A painful palm strike to his gut sent him sprawling on the ground, gasping for air. Despite the pain he could see Hinata taking a ready stance in case he got up, but he had been defeated in earnest.

For a few seconds nothing happened. Then Hinata realized what she had done and rushed to his side.

"Sasuke-kun, are you alright? I didn't want to hurt you."

Sasuke had still trouble breathing, but he managed a response. "I'll be fine… did what you were… supposed to do… beat me fair and square… congratulations."

Apparently Hinata still hadn't come to terms with that. "I… did?"

By now Kurenai had arrived to check Sasuke's status. "Yes, Hinata. You did defeat Sasuke on your own. He didn't hold back anything; I watched carefully."

Hinata seemed dazed by that revelation. Sasuke used the opportunity to look at his other teammate. Shino's eyebrows had risen far above his glasses. For him that was a sign of extreme astonishment.

Then Hinata speaking drew his attention back to her. "Wait, I heard and saw Naruto-kun during the fight. Where did he go?"

Kurenai sighed. "It was only a genjutsu, Hinata."

"How were you able to deceive my byakugan, sensei?" Hinata asked, visibly disturbed by that fact.

"Your bloodline isn't infallible, Hinata. Genjutsu that are able to deceive your eyes are difficult to perform, but it is possible for a genjutsu expert like me. The same is true for the sharingan. Both bloodlines can see through many illusions, but not all. Remember that lesson." Kurenai said with a nod at Sasuke. "By the way, you didn't do any real damage to Sasuke. He will be completely fine in an hour or two."

Hinata was still out of it a few minutes later. Since their training was over for the day anyway Kurenai decided to accompany her home, leaving Sasuke and Shino alone in the training field.

"Why did you do it? I know it was your idea. Why do you ask? I noticed you talking with our sensei during the fight. Additionally, you weren't surprised by Naruto suddenly appearing." the young Aburame asked.

Sasuke sighed. "Because we need Hinata to get over her problems. Nothing else worked. I thought about provoking her, but that would have been more likely to backfire. She admires Naruto and having him seemingly support her seemed like a good idea. I was right."

He didn't expect Hinata to simply overcome her issues due to one victory, but it was a first step. They would need to support her to get over her insecurities and lack of aggressiveness as well as build up her self-confidence. Unfortunately, they didn't have an unlimited time for that. If she hesitated on a mission or didn't fight to the fullest of her abilities it could very well mean her or even the entire team's death.

Sasuke had been the best taijutsu fighter at the academy, but even if Hinata had lower absolute skill she could beat him due to the Gentle Fist if she put herself really behind it. That fighting style was simply murderous at close range.

"I accept your reasoning." Shino finally said after a few seconds of consideration. "Your approach is logical even if it was underhanded. I would have preferred building her up over time."

The young Uchiha shrugged. "We are shinobi. You are my teammates. I don't want you to get hurt. If I have to resort to underhanded measures to keep you alive I will do so. The time is short before we will go on missions where we will have to fight for our lives if things go wrong. Kurenai-sensei hinted at the end of the week."

Shino nodded in acknowledgement. Their sensei had drilled into them that going on missions without proper preparation or with the wrong mindset was incredibly dangerous. Hinata would have been a weak point, but even their sensei couldn't delay going on real missions endlessly. Correcting their faulty training had taken far too much time already. The stories she had told them about missions gone wrong and comrades dying had been chilling. One wrong decision by a single member could mean the end of the whole team. Sasuke hoped that something like that would never happen to him, but he knew better than to delude himself. Sooner or later a mission would be misranked and they would have to fight against an enemy far out of their league.

* * *

The multi-colored spots dancing before his eyes solidified into a solid black mass. His lungs were screaming in pain. There was no more air left. His students had tried for a desperate gamble instead of running away, but they had failed. This was the end.

'_Obito… Rin… Minato-sensei… I'm sorry.'_

* * *

**Author's notes: **Thank you for the reviews.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 4**

Sasuke sneezed. The damn dust was getting up his nose again. It had not rained for the last few days and the dirt road was bone dry. Thanks to all the traffic going in both directions the dirt turned into air-borne dust that simply got everywhere. He really wished for a hot bath, but it was unlikely he would get one anytime soon. They had spent the last night camping in the wilderness and had to make do with cold water from a small stream.

The young Uchiha breathed a sigh of relief when they left the latest slow-moving merchant caravan behind and the air got a little cleaner. "I really wish we could leave the road and avoid all this dust."

Kurenai-sensei gave him a sympathetic look while Shino used the opportunity to once again clean his glasses and Hinata wiped the worst of the dust from her face. "I know what you mean. We should be able to do that in about two hours when we reach another forest. From there we'll take the direct way to our destination. Until then you'll have to simply endure."

"Hn." Giving his sensei a nod, Sasuke returned to watch their surroundings. They were currently travelling through one of the most densely populated agricultural areas of the Land of Fire. Fields stretched into the distance on both sides of the road as far as he could see. It would have been more pleasant to simply avoid the road, but walking through the crops wouldn't endear them to the farmers. They alone wouldn't cause noticeable damage (or any if they were careful), but if every shinobi passing through did it the damage would add up. There was no need to antagonize any part of the population if they didn't have to.

As far as Sasuke was concerned boredom and interesting sights balanced each other on his first C-rank mission. Their task was patrolling a certain uninhabited area and making sure no outlaws were occupying it, but first they had to get there. Nothing interesting had happened so far, but it was nice to see other terrain than the forests surrounding Konoha. They had passed through several villages and two towns since they left Konoha two days ago. The first thing he had noticed was the lack of shinobi. Heavily armed people were simply everywhere in Konoha, but the villagers didn't seem to possess any real weapons. Only in the towns had he seen some armed guards. Intellectually Sasuke had always known that a shinobi village was unusual. Seeing it with his own eyes was a different matter entirely.

Sasuke sighed when they entered the next dust cloud. This part of travelling he could really do without. Unfortunately this was the quickest way to their destination. The group didn't talk much; opening your mouth led invariable to chewing on dirt.

Two and a half very dusty hours later Team 8 finally left the road. Unfortunately they couldn't take to the trees; their branches were unsuited to tree-hopping. It made Sasuke wonder if the trees around Konoha had been specifically shaped to allow that mode of travel. Who knew what long-lasting effects the Shodaime Hokage had been able to achieve with his wood release?

Daylight was already fading when Sasuke finally got the opportunity to wash up in another forest stream. Kurenai-sensei and Hinata had gone first and were now keeping watch or tending to the camp. The water in the small stream was rather cold, but better cold than enduring the dirt covering his body any longer. Holding his breath, he submerged and scrubbed his hair. After repeating that action a few times he felt much better. Covered in goose bumps he waded back to the shore and began washing his clothes. The day was still warm enough he could let the air dry him off. After a few moments Shino joined him. This mission was the first time Sasuke saw the Aburame without his heavy jacket. He had wondered for a while if Shino had visible holes in his body to allow his kikaichu access (not that he would ever ask), but it didn't seem so. From the corner of his eyes he saw a bug landing on his teammate. A moment later it seemed to simply disappear.

'_Probably some sort of small, sealable holes. It's a bit gross, but interesting.'_

Considering all the different bloodlines in the world a human body acting as an insect hive was a bit creepy, but not overly much. Sasuke had heard of an extinct clan whose children were always born as twins, shared a single body and only separated for battles and other, even more exotic bloodlines.

"I really hope we take another way back." Sasuke remarked when they returned to the camp.

Shino nodded. "I agree. The journey was unpleasant."

Apparently Kurenai-sensei heard them because she let out a short laugh. "There're far worse things. I'll have to tell you of the time when I was hired as a bodyguard for a rich merchant during the big, yearly cattle market near the capital. He insisted on inspecting many animals up close. The smell wouldn't go away for days. Anyway, we will take a different route home." The jonin used a stick to scratch a rudimentary map into the ground. "This is our current position, this is the area we have to search and we will end up there before we head back to Konoha. There are only woods and some small villages on the way; nothing comparable to the road we used today. That was one of the main traffic routes in the western Land of Fire."

Hinata looked up from her task of supervising the kettle of soup cooking over the fire. "Is that why the people didn't seem to keep many guards with them? Most caravans had only a fifth of what I would expect from what we learned at the academy."

Kurenai nodded. "This part of the road is too well-travelled and there are too many villages. Bandits need retreats to shake off pursuit. The area we will patrolling is actually one of the possible retreats and the surrounding towns pay Konoha to keep it free from bandits and other nuisances. I don't really expect for us to encounter anybody, but a mission is a mission."

"How will we go about patrolling, sensei? The area is rather large." Shino asked.

"When we get there tomorrow morning we will split into two teams, explore independently and meet up on the evening. Look for inconsistencies; things that shouldn't be there or things that are missing. There shouldn't be any hunters or other humans there, so if you find evidence of human presence examine it carefully." Kurenai explained. "If you find outlaws don't attack them until I'm there to back you up. We should finish in three days if you don't dawdle and be back in Konoha in another two or three days."

Sasuke couldn't help himself. "That sounds boring."

Kurenai shrugged. "You will soon learn that boring missions are good. Exciting usually means that someone gets hurt. Pitched battles against bandits or missing nin may sound great, but they can go wrong very fast. No matter your skill level, there is always chance involved. You can lose even against inferior opponents. A pebble shifting under your foot, an arrow or kunai you didn't see coming, an attack you didn't notice in time, an opponent who simply got lucky; the possibilities are endless." The jonin looked at them seriously. "If we ever encounter an enemy and I tell you to run I want you to do it without question, hesitation and without looking back. No stupid heroics; those get people killed."

* * *

Kiba was tired; so very, very tired. He hadn't slept for days and his wounds hurt, but he couldn't risk giving in to his body's desire for rest. Sakura wouldn't survive. Even now the girl was growing paler by the hour. She hadn't regained consciousness since yesterday morning. Her injuries were slowly killing her and there was nothing Kiba could do about it aside from delaying the inevitable. He knew more about medicine than his teammates from when he had helped his sister in the veterinary clinic, but he didn't know enough to truly heal. Some basic technique to strengthen patients, help the natural healing process and reduce pain was all he could do. He applied the technique as often as his chakra reserves would allow and it helped; even an hour without it would be Sakura's death. Aside from the obvious external wounds the girl had sustained severe internal injuries when Zabuza batted her to the side with the flat of his blade to get at their client. The lower part of her ribcage had been completely shattered.

With a suppressed groan he stood up and walked over to his next patient. "How are you holding up, Akamaru?"

The small dog licked his hand before lying back down, too weak to do anything more. At least he seemed to slowly get better. A shuriken had ripped open his canine partner's side and Kiba had been forced to stitch it closed. For a while he had feared infection from the swampy water that had gotten into the wound during their escape, but it looked like Akamaru had been lucky.

After making sure the bandages still held tight Kiba hobbled over to the last surviving member of their team. Naruto was still in a coma and Kiba didn't have the slightest idea what to do about it. There were no visible external injuries (or internal ones that he could find), but he had personally seen Naruto's spine severed, his limbs cut off and insides turned into shreds… several times.

'_Don't think about it, don't think about it.'_

Unfortunately it was already too late. Memories from Naruto being shrouded in a cloak of terrifying red chakra and attacking Zabuza like a rabid animal after the missing nin beheaded Kakashi-sensei's corpse and killed Tazuna drifted to the forefront of his mind. His blond teammate had sustained injury after injury only to regenerate immediately. Zabuza and his suddenly appearing masked helper had still been winning when Naruto transformed into that four-tailed horror made from chakra and blood. The strange burns covering much of Kiba's left side from a glancing blow were ample proof that his blond teammate had no longer been in control. In the end their enemy had fled, Naruto had returned to normal and simply collapsed. The only reason Kiba wasn't having nightmares was that he hadn't slept since the battle.

'_He called Naruto a jinchuuriki like the Mizukage and said the Kyuubi was sealed in him. Well, the tails were a dead giveaway. I wonder why they lied to us in the academy about what the Yondaime did.' _Kiba sighed._ 'That isn't important now. I'll have to think about that when I have a clear head. We should have run when sensei told us to.'_

Kiba shook his head. By then it had probably already been far too late. The mission was doomed from the start. Their futile attempt to free Kakashi was just the last in a series of bad decisions.

'_I always thought mom's and sis' stories about missions gone wrong were hyperbole. I really have to apologize for that.'_

Hopefully he would get the opportunity. After the battle he had patched up Akamaru, Sakura and himself as good as he could. Then they had fled with the unconscious but seemingly uninjured Naruto. Zabuza could have returned any moment; Kakashi and their client were dead. Staying in Wave was far too dangerous. They had found an abandoned, half-rotted boat and taken to sea. An unexpected current had swept them far down the coast, but somehow Kiba had managed to find a fishing village and land. The village belonged to the Land of Fire and the inhabitants were friendly, but there wasn't anything they could do besides sending someone to the nearest city to get help. If Kiba remembered right there was a group of Konoha shinobi permanently stationed there. He just had to keep Sakura alive until help arrived. The young Inuzuka really hoped someone would get here before he collapsed from exhaustion.

* * *

"Orochimaru-sama will kill you all! He will burn this pathetic village down! Nothing can stop him!" the white-haired man strapped in the chair screamed, foam flying from his mouth. A jab with a senbon into a nerve center silenced the ex-teacher and he slumped down.

"Do you expect we can get anything more from him, Ibiki-san?" Koharu asked in a completely neutral voice.

The scarred man shook his head. "We picked his brain clean and are sure he is hiding nothing else, Koharu-sama. Unfortunately he didn't know anything of use aside from the location of several dead drops used to communicate with his master. As of now he is only a useless body occupying a cell."

The old woman considered for a moment. "Then we have no further use for this scum. Do your duty."

Ibiki nodded and turned to the dazed man. "You are hereby sentenced to death for treason, effective immediately. May the gods have mercy on your traitorous soul."

Not giving Mizuki any time for an answer Ibiki drove a kunai directly into his heart. The man trashed for a few seconds before going still. After making sure he was dead Ibiki waved two of his man closer. They untied the almost naked body, carried it into a tiled alcove with a metal grate and incinerated it with a fire jutsu.

Koharu watched with a grim expression until only ashes remained. Nobody was willing to take any chances anymore and they would soon need the space. The man's ashes would be scattered in one unremarkable and unmarked patch of forest. She could hardly believe the traitor had originally only been sentenced to prison. For Kami's sake, the man had instigated the theft of the Forbidden Scroll and nearly killed a chunin and the jinchuuriki. Koharu would have understood keeping him alive until he spilled all he knew, but that wasn't what would have happened. Thankfully Hiruzen finally saw that the time for such foolish softness was over.

"Please walk with me, Ibiki-san. We have further matters to discuss."

The big man nodded and gave some last instructions to his men before following her out of the room. A short time later they arrived in Ibiki's office and sat down. Koharu looked at Ibiki in silence before she started speaking. She wasn't happy about why she had to come here.

"The Hokage sent me today for a specific reason. He, and I, want to know why you and Inoichi-san haven't made more progress. We would have expected a message of your readiness several days ago. There is only limited time until someone gets suspicious about our activities. Hiruzen, Homura and I can't keep up a normal façade indefinitely, not with people from Intelligence and your own department simply disappearing. According to our plans you should have proceeded to investigate the Hokage Tower and the academy three days ago."

Ibiki actually winced and looked contrite. "I apologize, Koharu-sama. Establishing a core of cleared personnel and getting them ready for the investigation has proven far more difficult than anticipated."

Koharu narrowed her eyes. "Why is that? Are there that many traitors in your department?"

"This is part of the reason, but not my largest concern." The large man breathed deeply, obviously steeling himself for what he had to say. "I'm sorry to say the primary reason neither Inoichi-sempai nor I have started the next phase is a staggering amount of incompetence in our departments. We have to deal with that first."

"Incompetence?" the old woman asked incredulously. That really wasn't what she had expected.

The scarred man made a vague gesture with his hand. "Perhaps incompetence is too strong a word, but there is certainly a dangerous degree of sloppiness prevalent in our men. It doesn't happen when I'm present personally, but when not… For example, would you believe that traitor Mizuki was never properly searched or interrogated? The man had a yet largely indeciphered seal tattooed on his elbow and no one noticed. From our more thorough interrogations we know it contains a recipe for a potion with unknown properties; Mizuki said it was a gift from Orochimaru and believed it would give him enhanced strength."

"How could that happen? He should have been a priority after his actions."

Ibiki nodded grimly. "Indeed. I was out of the village at the time. It seems the woman who oversaw Mizuki's internment was a traitor as well. She didn't do anything directly, but neither did she make sure procedures were followed. She wasn't the only traitor we found."

"How many did you discover?"

"Five."

Koharu felt a lead weight settle in her stomach. Torture and Interrogation was a rather important department despite its relatively small size. New personnel should have been screened carefully. For so many to slip through…

"How sure are you about them?" she asked.

"As sure as I can be. They are all dead. Suicide." A scowl appeared on Ibiki's face. "Inoichi and I made an effort to evaluate my department as quickly and thoroughly as possible. We planned to use it to ferret out the moles in Inoichi's much larger department after that. Five people were discovered with mental conditioning not appearing in their files when Inoichi performed deep scans of their minds. I ordered them detained. I wanted to catch all suspicious personnel at once and break their conditioning later."

"An acceptable approach. How did you lose all of them?"

"Sloppiness; and yes, we verified already that it was sloppiness and not a deliberate plot. While I and my most trusted subordinates were busy going through the rest of the men the assigned guards gave the prisoners too much freedom. I didn't want to believe it either." He slid a stack of paper over the desk. "I think it best if you see for yourself, Koharu-sama."

Koharu leafed through the reports. She was quickly growing angry. There had been mistakes made; far too many mistakes. Ibiki was right. This was sloppiness bordering on incompetence, especially if you took the explanations of the guards into account. One prisoner's chakra hadn't been properly sealed, allowing the use of a suicide technique. Another one had been allowed a picture of her family. The frame contained poison. A third had killed a guard and himself when his chains were loosened so he could relieve himself. The fourth one had killed himself by hanging himself with his bed sheets. Lastly, the fifth one had simply keeled over dead from one moment to the next during the interrogation. As far as she was able to determine all security protocols had been followed in that last case.

Koharu forcibly calmed herself before she gave the reports back. "Did you manage to learn anything from them before their deaths?"

Ibiki shook his head. "Unfortunately nothing. All I have is Inocihi's impression of their mental conditioning. Two of them were very similar; the other three had individual variations. That means we are possibly looking at four parties who managed to insert spies or suborn our people. As of now we only have leads of two methods. One method seems to be originating from what Konoha uses, but was heavily modified. The second one is a special case."

The man stood up and walked to a bookshelf on the wall. A moment later it swung to the side, revealing a safe. Ibiki retrieved one object, closed the safe and put it on the table. "Frankly, we don't know what we are dealing with. Have you seen anything like it before, Koharu-sama?"

Koharu stared at the object for long moments. It was a simple glass box containing a severed tongue. The truly interesting part was the seal imprinted on that piece of flesh. It was in the process of unraveling, but someone had slapped a basic stasis seal on it to halt the process.

The old woman wasn't a seal mistress by any means even if she had picked up a lot over her long life. One thing she did learn was that every seal user created seals a little differently even if they used the same general style or had studied under the same master. With enough experience it was easy to see who had created a seal. She recognized that sealing style.

'_Danzo.'_

* * *

Kurenai silently observed her genin chat over the campfire. It wasn't what most normal people would expect from twelve year olds; the conversation was far too quiet even if the topic of tracking methods was relatively normal. None of her charges really liked to raise their voices even when silence was not strictly necessary. It was a good habit to have for a shinobi and she was glad she didn't have to teach it to them. Some of the academy graduates she had observed would have far more problems to keep silent.

'_It seems they are getting along quite well.'_

Some people thought different personalities would balance each other out and enhance a team's performance. It could work, but in Kurenai's experience it was preferable if there were no clashes of personalities. Kurenai could easily visualize how Sasuke might have reacted to what he perceived as loud, annoying behavior. Sooner or later it would have driven him deeper into his shell and caused a rift in the team. She was still somewhat worried about his mental state because losing his clan had to leave mental scars (she didn't trust the psychological assessments from the academy – the traitor had been involved in those), but it seemed as if he was genuinely opening up and becoming friends with Shino and Hinata. Sometime in the future she would have to inquire after Sasuke's clan and how he dealt with their demise, but she wanted to wait a few months longer until the bonds of trust between them had solidified. He didn't like it when the Uchiha clan was brought up in conversation, that much she already knew. Thankfully Sasuke didn't show any inclination to become an avenger – that would have been a real cause for concern. Shinobi who lived for revenge always ran the risk to cross boundaries better left uncrossed; using forbidden techniques or defecting from Konoha for whatever reason prime among them.

Hinata benefitted as well from the quiet atmosphere. Kurenai had to admit she had miscalculated in the girl's case. Originally she had planned on slowly encouraging her and building up her self-confidence while giving her more slack than she would have allowed another genin. From what she gathered Shino had harbored similar ideas. It pointed to a somewhat overprotective streak.

Kurenai had gone along with Sasuke's idea of having an illusion of Naruto Uzumaki cheer her on only because of a bout of frustration on her part thanks to Hinata's lack of progress. Oh, she hadn't expected it to do any harm, but neither had she really expected it to work. Now though it seemed that it had been the best decision she could have made. Hinata now knew that she could win against Sasuke (or other opponents) and showed more aggressiveness and self-confidence than before. It was still a painfully slow process and improvement came in baby steps, but she was finally getting better. To his credit the young Uchiha encouraged it. He seemed to have found just the right spot between encouragement and pressure.

'_If only Hinata's family would be as helpful.'_

Unfortunately there wasn't anything Kurenai could do about the Hyuuga. They seemed to have classified Hinata as a failure and refused to see her improvement. Well, she would have to continue building the girl up until even her clan could no longer deny her skills.

Shino's voice caught her attention. Apparently the conversation had turned to their just finished mission. "It is unfortunate we found no outlaws. I would have liked to test my skills against a strong opponent."

"There isn't always glory to be had, Shino. Most of the missions the village accepts are completely unremarkable. It is our duty to always do our best. You did well."

She hadn't expected to meet any bandits in the first place, but there was no reason for her genin to know that. The area had been scoured clean only a month ago by a team of chunin and there hadn't really been enough time for a new group of bandits to settle in. Konoha was still paid to patrol the area monthly and it had been a good fit for a first mission. It was best to ease the genin slowly into their duties. A fight posed the possibility that her genin might have to kill and she wanted to delay that for a while. First kills were always tricky and it was one of her duties as sensei to guide her genin through the experience.

In some ways the ability to kill other humans was one of the most important for a shinobi. That wasn't to say that every shinobi needed to be a cold-blooded killer, far from it. Overall Konoha didn't do that many assassinations and there were specialists for that. On the other hand not being able to kill when it was necessary could have catastrophic consequences. In spite of everything the clans, the academy and a sensei did to psychologically prepare the genin there was always uncertainty. More than one promising genin had to be relegated to a less demanding job because he or she couldn't overcome that hurdle. Such people weren't discarded by the village (their training had cost too many resources to do that), but their career was effectively in the crapper.

Kurenai hoped there would be no issues with her team, but even if they could kill there could be problems. All her genin had very reclusive personalities. It would be better if she waited a month or two until she set them up for their first kills. By then they should trust her enough to confide her in if they had real problems and not try to tough it out.

'_It would probably be best to pick some real scum as their first kills. If the target deserves it killing should be easier.'_ Kurenai nodded to herself. _'Yes, some low-skilled bandits would fit the bill nicely. I'll have to be on the lookout for suitable missions.'_

In the meantime she would work on the skills of her genin. Aside from fixing the holes in their education and general training she had mainly concentrated on taijutsu in the past weeks. Taijutsu was the bread and butter of shinobi combat. Flashy jutsu might garner more attention, but an exchange of blows either armed or unarmed was part of almost every battle. Even if a shinobi ended up specializing in another field he needed to be able to hold his own in taijutsu.

From what she had seen Sasuke was good at both nin- and taijutsu; he already knew a C-rank fire jutsu and could use it effectively. Hinata was doing okay in her clan's taijutsu style, but it didn't look like as if she had truly experimented with ninjutsu. From a purely technical standpoint Shino was doing somewhat better than Hinata at taijutsu, but his bloodline would make using ninjutsu not belonging to his clan's bloodline techniques difficult. From what Kurenai had learned Aburame preferred to reserve a large chunk of their chakra for their allies. That chakra was therefore not available for other uses, meaning rather chakra-intensive techniques were out.

'_I'll have to test their elemental affinities and find a few low-level techniques for them to learn.'_

Maybe some of them would even show an aptitude for genjutsu. Weaving illusions was more an art than a science and the majority of shinobi found it difficult to grasp. Oh, the standard stuff could pretty much be used by anyone, but the higher levels required either natural talent or long years of training. Like every master of an art Kurenai would like it if one or several pupils followed in her footsteps.

'_Well, that is a matter for the future. I wonder how Utatane-sama's investigation is going. I haven't heard anything since I gave her my assessment of the academy training.'_

* * *

Koharu felt her heart freeze when she heard someone enter the house. It seemed Danzo had returned earlier than expected. Not even a second later she was hidden in the shadow of a roof beam, virtually undetectable. With an effort of will she slowed her breathing and heartbeat to almost nothing and settled in to wait. Judging from the sounds Danzo was taking his time and making tea, but there was no other way out of the bedroom. It seemed she would have to stay until either Danzo left the house again or went to sleep.

'_Well, I'll have to be patient. This isn't the first time I'm stuck in such a position.'_

She was far from her prime, but she was still one of the best stealth and assassination specialists Konoha had to offer. Experience couldn't completely compensate for her advanced age, but breaking into a house and staying hidden was still easily possible. Danzo had secured it thoroughly. She still was better.

'_I wish I could have avoided that.'_

It wasn't as if she wanted to spy on Danzo, but she had no other choice. In the past she had often supported him in disputes when Hiruzen refused to see reason, but one of his brain-washed agents in an official capacity in the Torture and Interrogation Department? That clearly crossed a line – and violated the agreement he had with Hiruzen. Unfortunately she feared that fact alone wouldn't be enough to convince Hiruzen to take decisive action. He still saw Danzo as his childhood friend and was convinced of his desire to act in Konoha's best interest. Her old teammate might disagree with Danzo's methods and didn't want to know what exactly he was up to, but he gave him a free hand.

This was the reason why she had taken it on herself to find more evidence. Unfortunately Danzo's home hadn't yielded anything incriminating, but she wanted to be thorough and started with the softest target. Breaking into his house was easier than infiltrating the hideout of his ROOT, not the least because she didn't know exactly where it was located. Konoha's underground was just too extensive.

Koharu kept absolutely still when Danzo entered the bedroom. The old man proved his paranoia when he searched the room for intruders. Unfortunately for him Koharu was much better at stealth than he was at detecting intruders. Danzo had always been one for direct combat. Seemingly satisfied, he started to disrobe.

A moment later Koharu had to keep herself from falling off the beam. Danzo's right arm and shoulder was not what she had been expecting. The flesh was abnormally pale and the texture just seemed _wrong_. A metal brace covered it from hand to elbow. The worst thing and reason for her distress was the face jutting out of his shoulder. Koharu would recognize it anywhere: It belonged to Hashirama Senju, the Shodaime Hokage and founder of Konoha.

'_Oh Danzo, what have you done?'_

* * *

**Author's notes: **Thank you for the reviews.

Yep, Kakashi is really dead. Naruto didn't take it well.

A bit less Sasuke in this chapter than I originally planned, but there will be more in the next chapter.

Updates for this story and my other stories will probably be very slow in the next time. Writer's block has reared its ugly head and I'm very busy with other things.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 5**

Kiba felt a bone-deep ache penetrating his entire body. The strange burns on his side hurt and he was delirious from lack of sleep. Thankfully the imaginary people and talking animals and... other things had stopped appearing some time ago. By now the villagers were avoiding the shed, too. It wasn't as if they could help them; there was no healer in the small fishing village. At least Akamaru seemed to be slowly improving. Naruto was still unconscious. Sakura was getting worse and worse.

'_I just have to hang on a little longer…'_

From one moment to the next the technique Kiba used to keep Sakura alive failed. He had no more chakra to give. A few shallow, shuddering breaths later the girl became completely still. "Sakura? Sakura!"

Kiba desperately tried to start the technique anew. Nothing happened aside from increasing the painful emptiness inside of him. He tried again. And again. His vision began to dim as chakra exhaustion was killing him, but he didn't give up.

'_No, no, no…'_

Suddenly someone yanked Kiba away. He saw two people with green uniforms bending over Sakura. Two others were holding him. Words reached his ears, but he couldn't grasp their meaning. He was far too disoriented to make sense of things; the entire world was spinning. The hand of one of the people with Sakura was suddenly covered in lightning while the other one ripped her clothes open. When the man pressed his hand onto Sakura's chest the girl's body jerked violently. A moment later she fell back down. She was breathing again.

Kiba realized that help had finally arrived. A smile spread over his face. His friends were safe. Only then did he allow unconsciousness to claim him, finally giving in to his body's desire for rest.

* * *

Koharu set down her tea cup, carefully keeping the smirk from her face. It wouldn't be long now.

"… and I believe that covers everything about the Maintenance Department's current state. Depending on what exactly we decide on the topic of the chunin exams we might have to increase the budget temporarily, though. The general overhaul of the stadium is slightly ahead of schedule and will be finished in three weeks." Homura finished his report. Hiruzen and Danzo nodded thoughtfully, each taking another sip of tea.

The four of them were currently sitting in the living room of Koharu's house, holding their informal monthly meeting. There were no secretaries, ANBU or other potential complications in the house… which was the reason Koharu had chosen the event to make her move.

"This tea is simply delicious, Koharu." the Hokage remarked.

"Thank you Hiruzen, I made it myself. A new delivery from the Land of Tea arrived just yesterday."

Suddenly Danzo froze. A moment later he fell forward, slumping over the table and spilling tea in the process. Hiruzen and Homura jumped up in alarm.

"Keep your calm. He's just unconscious. I expected this." Koharu explained when she slowly stood up. _'After all, I used a dose that is just short of lethal. No sense in taking any chances.'_

Both men's eyes narrowed in realization. They assumed a guarded stance, ready for anything. Not that it would be of any use if she had decided to poison them too. She was the resident master of poisons and assassination, after all. "Why would you do something like this? Please explain yourself."

"I'm not the one who needs to do the explaining." Koharu forcefully removed the top of Danzo's robe and some bandages, exposing the man's strangely altered arm with the Shodaime's face jutting out of the shoulder.

Hiruzen and Homura recoiled in shock. "What is this!?"

Koharu shook her head. "I do not know. When I visited Ibiki he showed me proof of one of Danzo's agents having infiltrated his department. I broke into his house in hope of gathering more proof and saw…" She waved at the arm. "This."

Hiruzen sat back down, covering his tired face with his hands. "Why didn't you come to me?"

The old woman let out a snort of amusement. "Would you have believed me? Danzo has been your friend since you were little kids. I'm sure you would have summoned him to question him. He could do anything in this time. No, this way was far safer. He should stay unconscious for at least three days. Whatever this abomination is; he must have desecrated Hashirama's body to gain it."

Danzo's original arm had been crippled years ago, long before even the third shinobi war. She wasn't sure what exactly he had done or why to create such a changed limb, but this was unquestionably firmly in forbidden territory. Worse, it involved Hashirama Senju, the Shodaime Hokage, founder of Konoha and brother of their teacher Tobirama, the Nidaime Hokage. Konoha wasn't above dissecting and experimenting on the captured bodies of enemy shinobi, but one of the village's founding principles was that no attempts would ever be made to tinker with the village's population and their bloodlines. Otherwise the mistrust would have torn Konoha apart in the first decade of the village's existence. Any offence was considered high treason. Kakashi receiving the sharingan from his deceased teammate before his death had been almost enough to trigger a rebellion among the bloodline clans. Only several shinobi with mind-reading capabilities confirming Kakashi's story, Hiruzen's and Minato's support as well as the still ongoing war had staved it off and allowed Kakashi to keep the eye.

Homura stepped closer and removed the robe completely from Danzo's upper body, revealing the metal brace she already knew about. There didn't seem to be any additional obvious changes.

"This looks like some sort of suppression brace. I don't think it would be safe to remove it now; who knows what exactly it does." Homura announced after a short examination. Then a suspicious look appeared on his face. "I wonder…"

Her old friend proceeded to remove the bandages from Danzo's head. Then he pried his right eyelid open. From the stiffening of his shoulders Koharu discerned that it meant more bad news. "Oh Danzo…"

Koharu shook her head in disgust when she saw the reason for Homura's reaction. Danzo bore a sharingan. She knew he didn't have one at least until five years after the Kyuubi attack because she had helped him redo his bandages during a diplomatic visit to the Fire Daymio's court. That left the Uchiha massacre as the only occasion where he could have gotten one. All other sharingan eyes lost in the past three decades were accounted for.

Hiruzen's face showed a strange mix of anger and sorrow when he looked at the unconscious man for long seconds. Then he schooled his face into a neutral expression and turned towards them, but the pain was still clearly visible in his eyes. "I never expected this. You're right, Koharu. I wouldn't have believed you on your word alone and would have given Danzo the opportunity to defend himself. How do you propose should we proceed?"

"Obviously we have to imprison him immediately. I have a hidden tunnel in my basement; we should be able to get him out of here without anyone noticing." Koharu answered. "Ibiki finished cleaning up his department; he will be able to handle Danzo. I suggest triple the normal guards and keeping him unconscious indefinitely. It is possible he will try to commit suicide if we wake him up."

"We can't keep his imprisonment secret, not from his own forces. They are unquestioningly loyal to him. We have to crack down on them as fast as we can." Homura said.

The Hokage nodded. "I agree. Do any of you have detailed information? Danzo kept me generally informed, but in light of this I can't trust anything he told me."

Koharu and Homura shook their heads. None of them had ever learned the full extent of Danzo's resources.

Hiruzen sighed. "Then we have no choice. Have Ibiki and Inoichi break Danzo's mind as quickly as they can without endangering themselves or the information in his head. Keeping Danzo alive or sane is not a priority as long as the extraction is successful. He is guilty of high treason. Koharu, if you could please summon Ibiki?"

After giving the order Hiruzen shrank back onto himself, staring expressionlessly at Danzo. He looked far older and smaller than only minutes ago. The old woman sent Homura a last glance before she left the room. Hiruzen would need his support. The discovery of Orochimaru's atrocities had already shaken Hiruzen a great deal; his oldest friend being guilty of similar crimes would give him a nasty shock. Such things could kill at their age.

'_This will delay everything further, but we simply have to eliminate Root as soon as possible. The other departments will have to wait. I really wish we could simply cancel the chunin exams.'_

* * *

Sasuke let out a disappointed sigh when a hand tapped him on the shoulder and he dropped the technique intended to conceal him. He had been spotted again. Then he followed his sensei out of the bushes onto the grassy part of their training ground. Hinata and Shino were already present.

"You have all made improvements, but there is still a long way to go." Kurenai told them as soon as they were seated. "Today I could no longer spot any technical faults in any of you. Considering I only taught you the technique two days ago that is very good progress. In the next few days we'll have to work on your actual ability to properly employ the technique."

Hinata shared a smile with him, but Shino remained his usual unperturbed self. Upon their return to Konoha Kurenai-sensei had begun teaching them genjutsu. They had started with the False Surroundings Technique. It didn't take long for them to understand how to set the illusion up, but making it convincing was far more difficult. Normally the technique was considered C-rank, but as Sasuke had learned rankings were a little difficult to pin down in regards to genjutsu. They depended far more on the individual skill of the user and adaption on the fly than the relatively rigid ninjutsu techniques. His Great Fireball for example either didn't work at all or produced the desired result. You could vary the size and some other things a bit, but not much.

Genjutsu were different. The False Surroundings Technique allowed the creation of an illusion overlaying an area, but nothing else was predetermined. Only the skill and imagination of the user set the limits, aside from the available chakra of course. Aside from highly specific techniques for extremely narrow applications there existed only a relatively low number of basic techniques that were further shaped by the user instead of the multitude of ninjutsu techniques.

Additionally, genjutsu weren't simply genjutsu. Just as ninjutsu had subcategories like elemental techniques, space-time manipulation and medical jutsu genjutsu had a plethora of quite different areas ranging from illusions to mind-reading and -influencing. Of course, they could overlap if the user was good enough to combine them. Someone like their sensei could take elements from different categories and weave them together at will into something suitable for the situation. Currently they were still going over illusions that simply created false images in the victim's mind.

"By habit and trade, illusionists must look. At all times they must observe their surroundings in broadest stroke and finest detail in a way others do not. Other people take shortcuts. Their minds construct, telling themselves stories about what they see, rather than seeing. Illusions are therefore only a narrative. To tell a mind it sees something, the illusionist must both see the world as it is, and also as it is seen." Kurenai paused for a moment in her lecture. "Staring into the void of that discrepancy can drive one mad, really."

"Sensei, what about people who see the world in different ways from us? With my byakugan active everything looks very different and I can see chakra." Hinata asked.

Their sensei nodded. "Indeed, Hinata. With your bloodline you can perceive the world in a way I and others without cannot. It is the same for Inuzuka, Aburame and countless others; all in their own way of course. They can often identify pure illusions on the basis of things the illusionist can't perceive and therefore not incorporate in the illusion. Never forget, illusions are a sword made of glass: Extremely sharp, but fragile. Tell me, how would you work around this weakness, Shino?"

Shino didn't have to think long about his answer. "I would add mind-influencing components to the genjutsu, sensei. Why do you ask? Even if my victim is theoretically capable of seeing through the illusion it won't help him if his mind is manipulated to ignore the sensations that would tell him something is wrong."

"That is correct. Unfortunately it's also considerable more difficult to achieve." Kurenai explained. "All genjutsu have to interact with the target's chakra to work. The stronger the manipulation the easier it is to detect. A large part of the art is achieving the best results with the least effort. Now, there are ways to compensate for that or make it harder to break, but it adds to the complexity of the jutsu. Past a certain point you inevitably will lose control; the human mind can only handle so many things at once. The trick lies in training your mind to handle more and more parts subconsciously."

"Just like we do with the hand seals of techniques?" Sasuke asked.

"Exactly. The first thing you learned after accessing your chakra is to associate certain hand seals with ways to mold your chakra. It's mainly a matter of practice. If you have a talent for genjutsu something just clicks in your head. For now we will concentrate on illusions because they are the easiest to handle, but later we will move to other areas."

Kurenai continued to teach them about the theoretical side of genjutsu interspersed with practical examples for the rest of the afternoon. One thing was certain; even if none of them should develop a talent for genjutsu they would achieve a much better understanding of the art than the average shinobi. According to Kurenai-sensei most people (if they used genjutsu at all) only employed sort of pre-packaged genjutsu techniques that no self-respecting genjutsu specialist would ever be caught using. They generally did the job, but with just a bit of in-depth knowledge you could practically ignore the effects or even manipulate and turn them around, depending on the technique.

Sometimes Sasuke wondered how things would change when or if he developed the sharingan. According to the records and what he remembered from the words of his clansmen it would enable him to see chakra, learn techniques in the blink of an eye and give him a whole host of other advantages. He wasn't really sure if he wanted it, though. On the one hand it would be incredibly stupid to ignore the power his bloodline could provide. A shinobi had to efficiently use all the tools at his disposal. Those who did not generally didn't survive long. On the other hand it would mark him more than anything as an Uchiha and deep down he had some doubts about the bloodline.

Everyone in the clan who had activated it used it almost constantly and for the most absurd things. Memorize a grocery list? Use the sharingan. Study some books? Use the sharingan. Want to learn a new jutsu? Just have someone demonstrate it and use the sharingan. Sasuke really wondered if that didn't come with some downside. How good an understanding would he really gain of the copied techniques?

'_I guess I just have to wait and see until I activate it. If that doesn't happen I will just have to do without it.'_ Sasuke thought when the training ended and he made his way home.

He certainly wouldn't try to force it. That would only be what his brother wanted. He still remembered the words of Itachi on that bloody night so many years ago.

_You've always wanted to surpass me. That's why I'm going to let you live… if you wish to kill me, then hate me, despise me…. Awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan. Kill the person you are closest to. When we battle we should have the same eyes._

To this date Sasuke wasn't sure why his brother had thought he would choose the path of revenge. Even if Sasuke had wanted revenge he knew he was no match for his older brother and possibly never would be. Doing what a madman said who had just slaughtered the entire clan certainly didn't seem a smart idea in any case. He hated Itachi, but not because he had massacred the entire Uchiha clan even if that certainly played a role. Sasuke hadn't cared for his family. That didn't mean he had wanted to see them dead. No, the reason for hating Itachi was the horrible genjutsu he had put him in.

Watching his parents and other clansmen getting slaughtered again and again for three subjective days without pause had certainly messed him up. The nightmares had stayed with him for years. It would probably have been infinitely worse if he had actually cared for them in a personal sense; the blood and gore had been traumatizing enough on their own. Itachi had most likely thought living through that and suffering from survivor's guilt would be worse than killing him.

Sometimes Sasuke wondered what had caused everyone in his clan to completely misinterpret his behavior and personality. All of them had thought he wanted to emulate and surpass Itachi. In truth he hadn't even been sure he wanted to become a shinobi, but that was what was expected of him. Doing or saying otherwise would only have invited the anger of his father and the passive-aggressive pressuring of his mother. Sasuke knew that much; even at a young age he had been perceptive enough to see through other people easily. Considering his quiet nature he had overheard many conversations that would normally have been kept from him.

He couldn't have been more than six when he realized the true state of things. His father had treated him as if he didn't exist, his mother had just put on a façade and his brother had been just strange. The only reason he had tried to spend time with Itachi was that staying in the house would have been worse. The adults didn't like it when he played with non-Uchiha and options in the clan had been rather limited considering that he liked quiet even as a young child. Originally he had planned to remedy that as soon as he entered the academy, but the massacre and his subsequent fame had prevented that.

'_It's pretty sad no one knew me well enough to realize that I didn't really have aspirations for furthering the greatness of the Uchiha clan or that I only played along until I could move away from the clan compound. Everyone thought I tried to get my parents' approval by emulating Itachi.'_ Sasuke mused when he got ready for bed.

When it had become clear to Sasuke that his parents and the others didn't really care for him as a person he had slowly stopped caring about them in turn. Life had been much better without the constant need to prove himself to people who didn't truly care and following in the footsteps of someone he probably never could catch up with. For a while he had thought Itachi was different, but soon enough he realized his older brother wasn't seeing the real him either. He had just been projecting what he himself had wanted onto Sasuke without ever inquiring to Sasuke's own hopes and dreams. He never listened either. Something had always been… off about his brother. In the weeks before the massacre his behavior had become positively erratic.

From what Sasuke knew now the symptoms of a psychotic breakdown were unmistakable in hindsight. Things had been happening in the months before and there were always some whispers going around. He didn't know details, but discontent with the village had been rampant. There had been some sort of rift between Itachi and the rest of the clan. It had become worse when Shisui, one of the most powerful Uchiha and best friend of his brother, had been killed. Sasuke suspected Itachi had snapped under all the pressure.

In the end all doubts about his brother had been laid to rest when he used that torture genjutsu and tried to set Sasuke on a self-destructive path to revenge. If he had followed that path he would have thrown away what chance at happiness in life he had. Sasuke had seen people in the village who placed revenge above all else. Even if they got it their remaining lives were empty. You simply didn't do that to a person you cared about.

Sasuke didn't intend to ever go anywhere near Itachi if he could help it. Hopefully some bounty hunter would take care of the problem someday. _'On further thought, I hope Itachi dies from an embarrassing disease somewhere in a cold, wet ditch.'_

* * *

"… found every hideout and laid ambushes for those Root agents currently on missions. All the more important undercover agents in the various departments have been removed. We managed to disappear them without it becoming public knowledge, but some rumors about an impending purge have been started despite our best efforts. I take full responsibility for that failure." Ibiki concluded his report.

Koharu kept her face neutral. It had been too good to hope that they would keep things under wraps when a larger number of people started disappearing. In fact, it was a testament to Ibiki's and Inoichi's skills that there still were only some rumors and not a full-blown panic.

"I'm still busy with going through Danzo's mind. His conditioning is positively fiendish and extremely difficult to break, but I'm confident we got everything about his forces at this point. Unfortunately we had to put the evaluation of my own department on halt. We just don't have enough cleared personnel to deal with Root and the other problems at the same time." Inoichi added.

"Hiruzen, what is the status of ANBU after the operation? They provided most of the manpower for this." Homura asked.

The Hokage's face looked drawn. "Not good. They need some time for recovery. There were losses; more than I expected in fact. The general performance was subpar even if they managed to catch, subdue or kill all targets thanks to taking them by surprise."

"Can we start the purge before the chunin exams?" Koharu asked, not dwelling on the point. The sloppiness and slipping standards seemed to be everywhere. "There are only a few weeks left before the village will be teeming with foreign shinobi. I shudder to think what all the different traitors might do at that opportunity. That isn't even mentioning all the expected visitors for the finals. It's too late for us to cancel the exams."

"Not before the beginning of the exams, no." Ibiki answered. "We just have to clear more personnel and bring their training up to snuff before we can move to the other departments. There just aren't enough people with mind-reading capabilities to do it faster. Dealing with Root took all our resources and will continue to be a burden until we either dispose of the Root agents or manage to break their conditioning. Inoichi and I have drawn up a plan." The scarred man slid a document over the table. "We will continue to go through the Intelligence department until we have enough people to deal with all the other departments at once. If we manage to follow this timetable we will be ready around three weeks before the finals. Hopefully three weeks will be enough."

Homura nodded thoughtfully after perusing the document. "Not ideal, but this is probably the best we can do under the current circumstances."

"I agree. At that time the failed teams should have left Konoha. Most of the others will be busy training. This will give us a window of opportunity." Koharu assented.

"Yes, I approve. Please keep us informed of everything you discover in Danzo's mind." Hiruzen commanded.

"They will soon find the details of the deal with Itachi and the destruction of the Uchiha clan. Danzo was involved in everything." Homura remarked when Ibiki and Inoichi had left the room.

"Inoichi already knows as do Choza and Shikaku. Ibiki will understand as soon as we explain the full story to him." Hiruzen replied tiredly. "Although I did misjudge the urgency of the situation at the time I did have a backup-plan in case negotiations failed. The Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka were ready to join forces with ANBU and crush the rebellion." He sighed deeply. "Only it would have been too late. I realized that when I examined Fugaku's and the other Uchiha leaders' notes after the massacre. You were right in ordering Itachi to wipe out his clan. I would have delayed until it was too late. You aren't to blame that things got out of hand to this degree."

Koharu only nodded. She already knew of that. They honestly hadn't expected Itachi to actually succeed in wiping out his clan. Even in hindsight it was still a preposterous idea. A single shinobi wiping out several hundred enemies in one night (and not using wide-area techniques) was just ridiculous, no matter how powerful that shinobi was. They still didn't know how Itachi had pulled it off.

What they had intended had been for Itachi to take the leaders down along with a good chunk of the Uchiha shinobi before he met his end. The terror of one of their own going against them combined with the losses would hopefully stave off the rebellion for years to come, giving them time to address the issues properly. In case they failed it would still have given them enough time to employ Hiruzen's back-up plan, but with fewer losses among the loyal forces. If worst came to worst she and Homura had been prepared to act as scapegoats and be executed as traitors for going behind Hiruzen's back (and giving him deniability in the process). It would have been a light price to pay for preventing a civil war with the most powerful bloodline clan.

'_I honestly never expected that we could lose practically the entire Uchiha clan. Itachi slaughtering even the young children was a complete surprise. The loss of the sharingan has weakened Konoha a great deal. We were really lucky no other villages used the opportunity for an attack.'_

The old councilor was about to take her leave when a knock on the door interrupted them. A secretary delivered a message to Hiruzen before leaving.

'_I wonder what this is about. It has to be urgent. We were in a closed session.'_

Hiruzen unfolded the message and began to read. Moments later his face became grey and he began to tremble, the piece of paper falling from his suddenly powerless hands. Koharu glanced at him worriedly, but he almost immediately got himself under control. That looked like another nasty shock and she wasn't sure how many of them her old friend could take.

The Hokage shoved the paper in her direction. "Read it." Then he stood up and began pacing the room, looking even older than usual.

Koharu picked the note up and began to read. Soon a feeling of dread overtook her. It was a message from one of their detachments in one of the harbor cities at the east coast. According to the header this was the second message. Apparently an earlier message had gotten lost in transit. Unfortunately such things happened from time to time, messenger birds occasionally fell prey to accidents.

A fisherman from a village down the coast had arrived in the city bearing a call for help. Team 7 had encountered serious trouble and were in urgent need for medical assistance. Their jonin had been killed. Fortunately the detachment was one of the larger ones and included three medic-nins. At that point the shinobi of the detachment had sent the first message that had been lost.

The shinobi had then rushed to the small fishing village, arriving just in time to save the female team member's life and witness the Inuzuka boy falling unconscious with an extreme case of chakra exhaustion. All three genin were unconscious at the time of the message. The Haruno girl was in critical condition and unfit for transport, the Inuzuka suffered severe chakra burns and a collection of smaller injuries in addition to his chakra exhaustion and the jinchuuriki had no injuries the group could determine but wouldn't wake up. There was no trace of Kakashi. The genin couldn't be questioned and the villagers didn't know anything besides of the story of the genin arriving by boat. Therefore the group had sent a request for additional medical specialists and general reinforcement. A note at the bottom of the message indicated that a team of medics with corresponding escort had already been dispatched as soon as the message was deciphered due to standard procedure and assigned importance of Team 7's members.

"What was Team 7 supposed to be doing?" Koharu asked after she gave the note to Homura. This was a very serious development.

Hiruzen stopped his pacing and turned towards her. "C-rank escort mission. A bridge-builder was returning to his home in Wave Country. The threat assessment spoke only of possible attacks by bandits and Wave is rated as peaceful. There shouldn't have been anything Kakashi couldn't handle."

"Well, that was obviously wrong." Koharu thought for a moment, visualizing the region in question. "Considering the currents at this time of the year if they took a boat in Wave but couldn't properly steer it they would end up somewhere in that region. At least with favorable winds and timing the tide right, otherwise it's only too easy to be swept out onto the ocean."

"We should send a team to Wave to investigate." Homura added after reading the message. "Kakashi's death is unconfirmed, but whatever they encountered was obviously a serious danger."

Hiruzen agreed and Koharu took her leave a few minutes later. There was nothing further they could do about that matter now. She had other duties to attend to; the cases where someone wanted her services as an arbiter were already piling up on her desk. Until either the genin woke up or the investigation team reported back they would have to live with the uncertainty. She could only hope Kakashi was still alive. They could ill afford the loss of a shinobi of his skill. If she wasn't mistaken Hiruzen had considered him as his successor.

The worry about the jinchuuriki's state only added to her headaches. She wasn't happy about how Hiruzen handled him in general. He was a critical asset of the village and should be managed as such. The prospect of the Kyuubi ever taking control and running amok was a constant nightmare; it happened often enough to other jinchuuriki. A few decades back the Hachibi in Kumo had been almost famous for regularly wresting control from its jinchuuriki and going on costly rampages. They had been lucky with Mito and Kushina, but there was no telling if it would be the same for Naruto.

'_At least Sasuke is on a different team. Losing the jinchuuriki and the last Uchiha at the same time would be nothing short of catastrophic.'_ Suddenly an idea in regards to Sasuke emerged from the depths of her mind. _'It might be better to send Sasuke's team out of the village for a time until our trouble with enemy agents is solved. When the purges really start some enemy agents might be tempted to try and assassinate or abduct him. The team is too inexperienced to participate in the chunin exams anyway. I will have to speak with Kurenai.'_

* * *

Kurenai was worried. Lately rumors had been circling about people disappearing without a trace. Her friend Yugao Uzuki was recovering from an injury and had let slip that she wasn't the only ANBU wounded. Furthermore, yesterday she had been invited for tea by Koharu Utatane. The old woman had indicated that it might be wise to remove her team from Konoha for a time. Taken together that pointed towards an imminent purge of the ranks. Kurenai had no idea what the reasons for such an endeavor could possibly be, but she was grateful for the warning. Such things could get very messy and she preferred not staying in the vicinity if there was the possibility of open fighting erupting.

"I want you to pack for an extended trip. Tomorrow we'll be going on a more long-term mission and won't be back for a month or so." she explained to her genin after they finished training for the day.

"What about the chunin exams, sensei? I heard they will start soon." Sasuke asked.

She gave the boy a mildly reproving look. "It's too early for you to participate. You haven't been genin for even half a year. I won't nominate you until you have a good repertoire of techniques and far more experience. We might be back in time to watch the finals, though."

In truth she had toyed with the idea before she actually met her team. It would certainly set a new record. If there hadn't been the sabotage of their education and present circumstances she might have done it, especially if Asuma or Kakashi had nominated their teams. She didn't like it when someone tried to outdo her. As it was the formal ceremony for entering a team into the exams would take place when her team would already be gone.

"Where are we going?" Hinata asked.

"The Land of Sea, so pack for a sea voyage with plenty of spares. Salt water is hell on the equipment. We will be transporting a relatively big sum of money there for a merchant. Once there we will perform additional missions the locals offer us at my discretion before we head back, so it will bolster your record. Do you have any more questions?"

Shino was the one to speak up. "Isn't the Land of Sea normally considered as being in Kirigakure's sphere of influence, sensei?"

Kurenai shook her head. "It doesn't belong to the Land of Water or the countries dominated by them. This island group is contested territory. Both we and Kiri take and fulfill missions there. Of course, being surrounded by the ocean gives them an advantage, but we tend to avoid clashes. If we encounter some Kirin-nin be polite and try to resolve matters peacefully."

There were a few other questions. After answering them to the genin's satisfaction she sent them home. Hinata seemed happy with being away from her clan for some weeks while the boys were largely indifferent.

'_I guess I should take along some chakra paper. The voyage will be boring and I can start the children on elemental techniques.'_

* * *

**Author's notes: **Thank you for the reviews.

Somehow I always end up writing more about the elders and their plotline than I originally intended. I hope you like my take on the Uchiha affair. Neither Koharu, Homura nor Hiruzen know (yet) that Danzo was actively making the Uchiha situation worse.

I won't do a rehash of the dreaded chunin exams; I already did that in my other story.

So long.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 6**

Kiba slowly opened his eyes. His head was all woozy and he needed a few seconds to recognize his surroundings. It was a hospital room and he was lying in a proper bed. Several unidentifiable people were in the room with him. Suddenly the fog cleared somewhat and he heard someone speaking.

"… still needs rest, but half an hour of questioning should be safe. Please try not to agitate him too strongly."

One of the figures stepped closer to him and began talking in a familiar voice. "Kiba, do you understand me?"

The boy blinked, gaining more wakefulness by the second. "Mom? Where am I?"

Tsume Inuzuka smiled. "Yes, son, it's me. You are safely back in Konoha. A team found you and brought you home."

Suddenly Kiba remembered something. "What about Sakura, Naruto and Akamaru?"

"Don't worry about them for now. They are still undergoing treatment, but the medics said you did well. I'm proud of you."

Kiba relaxed. That was good. Now that the most urgent business was taken care of he tried to get a grip on his situation. His entire side was swathed in bandages and he could hardly move. There was still the woozy feeling he associated with a large dose of painkillers, but for the moment his head was clear enough. Then he focused on the other people in the room beside his mother. One of them was obviously a medic, another one was the jonin commander Shikaku Nara. The Head of Intelligence Inoichi Yamanaka stood beside him. The last one was one of the Hokage's councilors, Koharu Utatane. Kiba gulped slightly and felt his heartbeat speed up. So many important people. The command structure of Konoha was covered in the academy, of course, and as the son of a clan head he had far more contact with those people than the average genin (or academy student). It was still unnerving.

The hand of his mother stroking his hair calmed him down. "Please stay calm, son. We just want to know what happened on your mission. Do you feel up to giving a report?"

Kiba nodded and took a moment to collect his thoughts. Then he began to recount everything that had happened, starting on the day they had accepted that ill-fated mission to Wave Country.

* * *

"Those are pirates."

"Are you sure?" Kurenai-sensei asked.

The weather-beaten skipper nodded grimly. "Aye. They're trying to run us down. Another merchant wouldn't do that and that's most definitely not one of the Fire or Tea Daimyo 's ships."

Sasuke watched the ship following them curiously, his teammates beside him. This was his first sea voyage and he had no real idea about naval matters. Yesterday morning they had left from the south-east coast of the Land of Fire, embarking on their current ride. Their destination Sea Country was still several days away and they would have to change ships in Tea Country, but the relatively small one-masted ship had made good speed. It was a new experience not having to walk everywhere. Thankfully none of them had suffered from sea sickness.

Kurenai looked a moment at their pursuer before turning back to the captain of their ship. "Can we escape?"

The man was silent for a few moments. "No. They're bigger than us, but they have more sails that are more suited to these conditions to boot. With the wind as it is they'll be in boarding range in an hour at the latest. We can't evade; they're upwind of us. As to escaping downwind… we're cutting it mighty close to the shoals already. There's just no room for us to run and no friendly harbor either."

That didn't sound good. The coast (Sasuke wasn't entirely clear if it still belonged to the Land of Fire or if they had already reached the Land of Tea) had always stayed in sight since they left harbor, but since about two or three hours ago the ubiquitous fishing villages and occasional harbor towns had been replaced by either wild mangrove forests or steep cliffs with no human settlement in sight. He supposed that made for a good hunting ground with no witnesses around.

Their sensei sighed. "Then I suppose we will have to fight." She turned towards them. "Try to stay out of sight. I don't want them to know we have shinobi on board. That might scare them off, but it might lead to them targeting us or our ride as well. Hinata, are they in range of your byakugan yet? I want you to find out with how many enemies we are dealing with."

Hinata shook her head. "No, sensei; they will have to get a bit closer until I can look through the ship's hull."

Twenty minutes passed in silence while the supposed pirate drew closer and closer. The crew of their ship sent more and more worried glances towards their pursuer, but they didn't seem completely demoralized. Sasuke supposed their presence reassured them. Absentmindedly he adjusted his clothes and inspected his weapon pouches. This might be his first real fight and he felt nervous. Shino remained unperturbed, but Hinata fidgeted a bit, tugging at the headscarf Kurenai had insisted she wear. Sensei had been very clear that none of their clothes should show any clan symbols or give away any other potentially harmful information. Sasuke didn't have a problem with that; he hadn't worn anything with the Uchiha symbol for years. Advertising that he potentially possessed a sharingan was just asking for an abduction attempt, enemies targeting his eyes as first priority and other unpleasantness. Shino as an Aburame was never without his coat and dark glasses, but that was unspecific enough not to rouse suspicion. Hinata couldn't hide her eyes that marked her as a Hyuuga, but they could hide that she belonged to the main house by keeping her forehead covered.

With a whispered "Byakugan" the girl activated her clan's bloodline and looked at the ship for almost a minute. "There are about five times as many men on that ship than what we have here, sensei. They are already preparing for boarding us."

"I don't like these odds. It would probably be safest if we simply send a fireball into their sails and then burn their ship down entirely from a safe distance." Kurenai mused.

Suddenly Hinata gasped. "Sensei, there are at least ten children in the bilge of that ship. I think they are chained up, but I can't be sure."

Kurenai's eyes hardened. "That changes things. It seems we will have to board them. This could get messy, but perhaps we can avoid a real fight."

The red-eyed woman made a series of hand seals before she smiled maliciously, never losing the look of concentration on her face. "Captain, please follow their demands if they signal you to stop. If not try to keep your men safe. We will take care of things. Stay out of sight for now."

It still took the enemy almost half an hour to close the distance, but soon taunts and yells to give up reached their ears. The captain of their ship looked questioningly at their sensei who had hidden out of direct sight of the pirate ship. Kurenai nodded. A few seconds later the crew of their ship began to reef their sails, causing them to lose speed. Soon their pursuer came alongside to them, matching their speed. It looked like they were ready to pounce, even if there still was a large gap between their ships.

A man in colorful clothing stepped on a box behind his assembled pirates. "You will always remember this as the day you almost lost your lives to Captain Koujaku." The man stopped talking for a moment. "On further thought I have no use for any witnesses. Kill them all, boys."

As soon as he had uttered the words the pirates jumped from their ship… directly into the gap between them. The ships still had enough speed for them to be swept away almost immediately, but they still cried out in surprise. Judging from the shrinking number of cries most if not all pirates couldn't swim properly. Strangely none of the pirates still on their ship seemed to take notice while more and more men took a swim in these shark-infested waters.

'_Sensei is using a genjutsu to make them believe there is no gap between the ships and hide what happens to those who try to board us.' _Sasuke realized when he saw the look of concentration on Kurenai's face.

When it seemed as if no more pirates planned to jump Kurenai began a different string of hand seals. Sasuke realized the genjutsu collapsed as horrified realization appeared on the faces of the remaining pirates. The pirates didn't have time to shout before they simply slumped over, apparently asleep.

Kurenai wiped sweat from her face and let out a relieved sigh. "That should take care of them. They should be asleep for at least an hour, but sometimes even non-shinobi manage to resist a genjutsu. Hinata, is there anyone still moving on that ship?"

"No, sensei. Everyone is lying still."

"Good. Captain, please keep us at this distance while we board the pirate. We will split in two teams. Shino, you are with me. Tie everyone up then bring them onto deck. Be careful." their sensei commanded.

Sasuke nodded and left his hiding place. A long, chakra-enhanced jump later he and his teammates were standing on the pirate ship. They immediately proceeded to tying up all the remaining pirates while Kurenai-sensei did something to the steering wheel. Soon they settled into a routine: approach a downed pirate, disarm him and truss him up with ninja wire so that he couldn't move. When all the pirates on deck were taken care of Sasuke and Hinata entered the ship's bowels.

"There are eight people here aside from the prisoners." Hinata announced before she deactivated her byakugan. Keeping it active for long stretches was stressful to her and the chakra cost not inconsiderable, Sasuke knew.

They had already tied up six of the pirates when it happened. A sound caused Sasuke to look up. One of the pirates had gotten up and was in the process of swinging a sword at Hinata's neck.

"BEHIND YOU!" he shouted while grabbing for one of his kunai. How could they have missed the sound of the pirate moving?

Hinata didn't hesitate for a moment. She ducked under a swing she couldn't possibly have seen coming, twirled around and delivered a strike directly into the man's chest before jumping away. The man froze. For a second nothing seemed to happen. Then blood bubbled from the man's lips with a wet-sounding cough and he fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Sasuke carefully approached the downed man, ready for a surprise attack. When nothing happened he drew a second kunai and launched it into the man's arm. That would be painful enough to garner some reaction. One again the man remained still. Finally Sasuke knelt down and checked the man's heartbeat. There was none.

He looked up, staring into Hinata's eyes. "You killed him. He's dead."

* * *

Homura Mitokado watched in silence as his assistants placed the unconscious body of Naruto Uzumaki on the pedestal of the sealing chamber. The boy still wouldn't wake. By now they knew the reason wasn't medical but related to his seal. That was very bad, possibly catastrophically so. As soon as the assistants had cleared the seal array inscribed on the chamber's floor, columns and ceiling Homura activated the technique to analyze the normally invisible seal on the jinchuuriki's belly.

'_Interesting. Two interlocking four element seals are working together, allowing some of the Kyuubi's chakra to slip out and combine with Naruto's chakra. I wonder why Minato used this set-up; there are other, safer ways to generate the same effect. It looks similar to Mito's and Kushina's seal at first glance, but there are clear, fundamental differences.'_

It was the first time he was able to take a good look at Naruto's seal. In the past Hiruzen had handled that, but his old friend wasn't a true seal master. Very proficient, yes, but not a true master. Jiraiya had taken a look shortly after the sealing and Homura had assumed he had been the one who supervised the seal's status. He had received a very unwelcome surprise when he brought the subject up.

After Hiruzen had explained all he knew Homura had been ready to rip the Hokage a new one. He had settled on yelling at him loudly and lengthily using colorful words. They didn't actually have a full description what the seal actually did and how it worked. Neither Hiruzen nor Jiraiya had ever performed a complete analysis and whatever notes the Yondaime might have made had been destroyed during the Kyuubi attack. All Hiruzen ever did was making sure the seal worked without investigating further. 'He had faith in the Yondaime's work' had been his reasoning and Jiraiya had apparently agreed. Not that they knew that; the man was hardly in the village and had ignored the summons to return for months.

By that point Homura had been ready to strangle the idiots. They had wagered the village's very existence on simple faith without making absolutely sure. You simply didn't do that when dealing with jinchuuriki and tailed beasts (or other demons, for that matter). It made Homura want to tear his hair out. The sealing arts required painstaking attention to details. It was only too easy to make a slight mistake in the heat of battle; a mistake that could go unnoticed for a long time until it caused a catastrophe.

Now he was doing what should have been done years ago, namely making an in-depth analysis of the seal. Naturally, Naruto's seal was full of anti-tampering measures that tried to prevent the very thing he was doing. Minato Namikaze had been a veritable genius with seals and he had tried to protect his seal designs as best as he could. On the other hand he had still been in his twenties when he died. In contrast, Homura would turn seventy next year. He had spent more than six decades learning all he could about the sealing arts. His teachers had been Tobirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki among others. In effect the countermeasures gave him some difficulty, but he was slowly and surely making progress as the seal seemed to unfold, tracing intricate patterns into the air.

Minato had relied on flashes of inspiration. Jiraiya preferred quick-and-dirty solutions. Kushina had inherited Mito's Uzumaki sealing style as well as everything that had been recovered from the ruins of Uzushiogakure, but had lacked the patience to develop it properly and tended to use brute force methods. Both Mito and Tobirama had been very methodical researchers and Homura shared that trait. That came in very useful when he tried to understand another seal master's work on tasks like this.

'_This is a really strange seal for a jinchuuriki.' _Homura thought as he dived deeper and deeper into the seal's structure. _'Oh, this isn't good.'_

* * *

Hinata unseeingly stared at the wall opposing her, trying to come to terms with the latest events. When she had noticed the attack by the pirate her training had taken over and she had immediately gone for a killing blow. Her byakugan had been inactive and she didn't have the time to reactivate it. She could use the Gentle Fist style without her eyes, but it was less effective since she couldn't see exactly where she had to strike. A combined heart/lung-attack overcharged with chakra was the most reliable option in that situation, especially because she had already been inside her enemy's guard.

The young Hyuuga had often thought how her first kill would happen. In fact, she had dreaded that day in light of her general reluctance to hurt people even in spars. They had spoken about it at the academy. Her personal expectations had ranged from not being able to do it at all to suffering a nervous breakdown. Being nauseous for days or crying uncontrollably had been other likely possibilities she had considered. Now that she had killed her first human she felt… absolutely nothing. She might as well just have finished a random spar. Frankly, she was disturbed about her lack of reaction. Killing people shouldn't be that easy.

Sasuke had immediately taken her to Kurenai-sensei. After a short conversation he had accompanied her back to their ship while sensei and Shino took care of the remaining pirates. They had settled on their sleeping place in a corner of the ship's hold. The ship didn't have any cabins. After a few abortive attempts at conversation they simply sat together in silence. Frankly, she was glad for his company and that he didn't force her to speak.

"How are you holding up, Hinata?" Kurenai asked when she returned, Shino in tow.

"I feel nothing."

Kurenai nodded. "That can happen. The numbness will go away soon and…"

"Sensei, you misunderstand. My general emotions are perfectly fine. I just don't feel anything about the man's death." Hinata interrupted. "I don't like that I had to hurt him, but the feeling isn't any different as if I had just caused some bruises. I feel no remorse or guilt at all. That is the reason I'm not well. I know I should feel something, but I don't."

That shut Kurenai up at once. Hinata couldn't quite interpret her facial expression, but the most prevalent emotion seemed to be incredulity. It took her a few seconds to recover.

"It is that way for some people." Kurenai explained, obviously choosing her word very carefully. "In fact, the ability to kill without remorse is very valuable for our profession. Most people never truly reach that point."

Hinata had the distinct impression that Kurenai-sensei didn't completely believe her. "But it isn't exactly a normal reaction."

Kurenai shrugged. "You are right. Most people have far more difficulty. I wouldn't have suspected that it is that way for you. Well, I didn't plan that any of you would have to kill at the current time, but sometimes things happen. We will have to talk in more detail later or is there something urgent?"

"I think I will be fine for now, sensei." Hinata replied.

"Okay." Kurenai breathed deeply. "I think I know how the man managed to surprise you. Judging from his body he had some shinobi training. Not much, but it was probably enough for him to move silently and resist my genjutsu. Maybe he was an early academy dropout from one of the other villages. He would have seen what happened to the other pirates and decided to pretend to be asleep until he saw an opportunity for attack or escape."

"I'm sorry, sensei. I should have kept my byakugan active, but I didn't think it necessary and didn't want to exhaust my chakra."

Sasuke spoke up. "We should have been more careful anyway, but after nothing happened at first we got careless. After all, you warned us about the possibility that your jutsu might not be completely effective, sensei."

Kurenai nodded. "That is correct. A very important part of being a shinobi is recognizing potential dangers and minimizing risk. Some degree of paranoia is a survival trait. Still, I'm not angry at you. Everyone makes those mistakes from time to time. All things considered you got off lightly. Learn from this and do better in the future."

"What will happen to the pirates, their hostages and the ship, sensei?" Hinata asked after a few moments of silence.

"We are currently heading towards the nearest port. There we will hand everyone over to the local authorities. From what I could determine the children were taken from a fishing village not that far away. They will be returned there without too many problems. The pirates will be judged and most likely executed. I don't know if any of them have bounties on their heads, but we will most likely receive some prize money for the ship and its cargo." Kurenai stopped for a moment. "I already promised the captain a substantial share; it leaves them with a good impression of Konoha and the rumors will be good advertising. This doesn't count as a mission, but I expect our individual share to be somewhere between the usual payment for a C- or B-rank mission."

All the genin nodded. More money was always welcome even if Hinata and Shino would have to relinquish a substantial share to their clans according to standard policy. Money probably didn't have any direct appeal to Sasuke considering his fortune, but shinobi never refused payment. They were mercenaries, even if a village's close connection to a specific country sometimes blurred the line to a regular military.

Much later Hinata stood on deck, looking out over the waves. The full moon in the cloudless sky made the dark water glitter in his silvery light. The prisoner transfer had been completely without problems and they had continued their journey down the coast. It was already very late, but Hinata couldn't sleep. Kurenai-sensei had talked with her about her first kill, but she still had doubts and questions. Was she damaged in some way? If she could kill people completely without remorse what would stop her from killing when it wasn't necessary? Would she turn into a monster at some point?

Suddenly she noticed Sasuke approaching. The boy stepped closer and leant on the ship's railing beside her. "It's a beautiful night."

"Yes, it is. Aren't you tired?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Somewhat. I woke up and you were gone. Do you want to be alone?"

Hinata considered that for a moment. "No, please stay." The silence stretched for several minutes. "Do you think something is wrong with me?"

"Because you can kill without remorse?" Seeing her nod he shook his head. "No. That is just a quirk of your mind. Considering what shinobi do it might even be helpful. Killing is what we often have to do and if you aren't suffering from any problems because of it that is all to the better. I just hope I will be able to deal with killing when it is my turn."

"But what if I turn into a monster that just doesn't stop killing?"

"You aren't a monster, Hinata, and I don't think you will ever become one." Sasuke answered with conviction.

"How? How can you know that?"

"Because you care so much. You are kind to everyone and never want to hurt anyone." Sasuke grew still, his hands clenching the railing tightly. "Because I know a real monster. My brother. Itachi. He killed everyone in the clan. The elders. The shinobi. The civilians. Our parents. His fiancée. The little children. I was there when he killed mother and father. Then he made me watch that again and again for three days straight."

Hinata had of course known about the Uchiha massacre, but never before had Sasuke spoken about the matter. Neither she nor Shino had brought up his clan or the massacre in conversation. What he did to Sasuke was news to her, though. "That is terrible." She finally got out.

Sasuke nodded, still looking out over the ocean. "It is, but that isn't the worst part." He turned around to look her directly into the eyes. "No, the worst thing is I didn't truly care. Itachi killed everyone I spent my childhood with and in my heart I didn't care. He slaughtered our parents before my very eyes and I didn't care in the slightest. I had nightmares about all the blood and screams for years, but I never felt the loss. If anything I felt liberated that they were gone even if I never wanted them dead. Tell me, am I a monster?"

At first Hinata didn't know how to answer that. Then a question came to her mind that might provide an answer to Sasuke. "Do you care about anyone at all?"

Her teammate thought for a moment. "I care about sensei. I care about Shino. I care about you. You are my friends. I care about the village in a general sense."

Hinata nodded and put her hand on top of Sasuke's. For a moment it felt as if he wanted to withdraw his hand, but in the end he stayed put. "Then you aren't a monster. Sometimes I wish I wouldn't care about my clan so much. Their disdain for me would hurt less then. All they ever see is a failure."

"I understand."

"You do?"

Sasuke chuckled. "I know how it is to never to be able to meet expectations. No matter what I did it was never good enough. Itachi was always miles ahead of me. He was presented as the paragon of the Uchiha clan. I lost count of how often I was told to be more like Itachi. That was if my parents or the others acknowledged me at all. They never saw me as a real person. It hurt so much. When I realized that I stopped caring and the pain went away." He chuckled again. "Only a short time before the end did they notice something wrong with Itachi. Suddenly everything was different and I was the favorite child. My father even taught me the Great Fireball Technique as some sort of coming of age rite. They only pretended to care when I became useful to them and they had no other choice." He gave her an earnest look. "So no, Hinata, you aren't a monster or a failure and never will be one."

Hinata felt reassured in a way that all the talks with Kurenai-sensei had never achieved. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The two genin continued watching the moonlight glitter on the waves in companionable silence. For now nothing further had to be said. None of them noticed their sensei Kurenai who had listened to every word they had spoken with an unreadable expression on her face.

* * *

Koharu sighed deeply when she sat down for another meeting. The investigation team that had been sent to Wave Country had returned. Despite them being busy with the preparation for the chunin exams and the upcoming purges the matter had to be dealt with swiftly. Putting together the different reports had been mainly her task. Hiruzen had been too busy dealing with correspondence with the other villages while Homura had focused his entire attention on Naruto. Shikaku, Inoichi and Ibiki had done their parts and were present for this meeting, but she had been the one to coordinate everything.

After the customary greetings were done the old woman spoke up. "Inoichi-san, please tell us what you found."

Inoichi cleared his throat. "A lot of things went wrong and left us with this mess. The first mistake was that no one checked the client's information against what we had in our files. We now know Tazuna lied about his circumstances, but the mission office simply took his word. The persons responsible thought it too much wasted effort. Unfortunately that seems to be a persistent problem. Especially lower ranked missions aren't checked properly, leading to an increase in mis-ranked missions." His expression became embarrassed. "To my shame I found that the intelligence packet my department kept on Wave was out of date and not maintained properly. Even if the mission had been checked against our records it is likely no discrepancy would have been noticed. To make things worse Wave isn't the only case where that happened, but this pertains to our general problems: overconfidence, sloppiness, incompetence and enemy action. We are still combing through my department for spies, traitors and leaks. The numbers are extremely troubling. At this time I cannot guarantee for the accuracy of any intelligence coming from my own department."

"Thank you, Inoichi-san. This explains how nothing amiss was noticed in the run-up to the mission. Shikaku-san, if you would please continue?"

The Nara clan head nodded. "Team 7 encountered the Demon Brothers after about two days of travel when they tried to perform an ambush. According to the report Kiba Inuzuka gave Kakashi faked his own death and let the attack continue. Kiba and Naruto managed to fend off the initial assault before Kakashi intervened. He left them tied up to a tree, apparently under the impression that a patrol would pick them up soon."

Koharu added her analysis. "In hindsight it is obvious Kakashi noticed the ambush before it happened which makes his actions worse. He had no way of knowing beforehand who the assailants were or what their skill level would be. His team had never been in a combat situation before. Letting the attack continue unhindered put his genin and client unnecessarily at considerable risk. We could have easily lost one or several members of Team 7 at that point."

"Since I don't entertain any missing nin from Mist in my dungeons I assume the Demon Brothers were never taken?" Ibiki asked.

Shikaku nodded. "That is correct. The patrol schedule was different from what Kakashi expected; since he took over a genin team he no longer had the need-to-know of our patrol schedule. The latest update on patrol changes never reached him, but obviously he never realized that for reasons unknown."

Homura looked up from the paper he was scribbling on. "That doesn't explain why he thought that a good course of action in the first place. You never leave prisoners unguarded. Reinforcements might arrive or a patrol might be delayed for a variety of reasons."

Koharu nodded. "I agree. We attribute it to sloppiness and overconfidence. The possibility that something might go wrong never seemed to have entered Kakashi's mind. It isn't really surprising that the Demon Brothers managed to free themselves and escape."

That was something that really pissed her off and had led to her changing her formerly good opinion of Kakashi. He had just taken so many unnecessary risks that she honestly asked herself if he had tried to get his team killed. You didn't get to be a successful shinobi by taking unnecessary risks and being sloppy. If they ever found the time they would have to look at Kakashi's past actions in detail, but there were far more urgent matters to deal with.

"When confronted by Kakashi Tazuna broke down and confessed that the wealthy shipping magnate Gato was after him and he had deliberately lied about the mission parameters." Shikaku continued the report. "For reasons unknown Kakashi decided to continue with the mission. Of course, being the inexperienced genin they are Team 7's other members were perfectly fine with that."

This was the part Koharu had real trouble understanding. Kakashi's action before and during the ambush had been sloppy and risky, but she could see the logic. This was different. If the bridge builder posed enough of a problem to Gato to hire two missing nin there could easily be more. There was no way Kakashi could reasonably estimate the possible opposition. It spoke of unbelievable, dangerous overconfidence that he thought he could deal with those unknown threats alone. At that point it would have been prudent to either abort the mission completely or return to Konoha with Tazuna to negotiate a new contract and get reinforcements. They weren't pressed for time and a few days would have made no difference. Instead Team 7 blithely walked into danger.

"Once they arrived in Wave they were intercepted by Zabuza Momochi, the Devil of the Mist. Kiba didn't realize it at the time, but Zabuza actually gave them the opportunity to withdraw before he attacked in earnest. In the ensuing fight Zabuza managed to trap and kill Kakashi. The genin tried to free their sensei, but failed. When they still didn't flee Zabuza went after the client, killing him and severely injuring Sakura Haruno in the process. At that point Naruto began drawing on the Kyuubi's power, probably without being aware of that fact. As far as we can tell when he didn't manage to beat Zabuza he drew more and more power until he finally lost control. Kiba was burned by a glancing hit of the demonic chakra. He was extremely lucky to survive. After Zabuza fled when Naruto entered a four-tailed state Kiba patched the group together and fled Wave country. He managed to get them to the fishing village in the Land of Fire where the rescue team found them." Shikaku concluded.

"Naruto was obviously not aware that such a thing could happen." Homura said after he sent a glare at the grey-faced Hokage. "He was never informed that he could potentially draw on the fox's chakra, could lose control to the fox or go berserk."

Koharu winced internally. Both she and Homura had thought Hiruzen had informed Naruto of what being a jinchuuriki entailed and the dangers it presented after Naruto learned of his prisoner. Unfortunately Hiruzen had not done such a thing; a fact they had learned when they questioned him on what exactly he knew about the seal. This callous disregard for Naruto's and the entire village's safety had strained Homura's life-long friendship with Hiruzen past the breaking point. Worse, until it was spelled out for him Hiruzen had not realized what he had done (or not done, as the case was). He hadn't really recovered from the shock of realizing just how badly he had failed in his duties.

"The investigation team we sent found no trace of Kakashi's body or Zabuza. Kiba wasn't sure, but it is very likely Zabuza took it with him. Kakashi's sharingan would fetch an astronomic price if he isn't using it for himself and even his body would be valuable to other villages." Inoichi told them. "If Gato was present in Wave at all he had left by the time our forces arrived."

For the first time Hiruzen asked a question in a weak, weary voice. "How are the children?"

"Kiba will fully recover in time, but the chakra burns might leave scars; it isn't certain at this time." Koharu answered. "Sakura will need months of treatment with subsequent therapy. The girl's ribcage was almost completely shattered and will have to be rebuilt. She has severe internal injuries and a multitude of smaller wounds. By all rights she should be dead. The medics don't know if she will be able to stay a kunoichi or even if she will be able to lead a normal civilian life. Naruto isn't a true medical case. Homura?"

Homura took a deep breath. "The seal is disintegrating. I can't exactly reconstruct what happened, but between the enormous power of the fox and Zabuza's actions something was irreversibly damaged. It is only a matter of weeks, a month at the longest, until the Kyuubi will break free if nothing is done. We will need to take extreme measures. I don't know if Naruto will survive what we will have to do."

For a moment the room was completely silent. Then a pain-filled gasp was heard and Koharu's gaze snapped to Hiruzen. His face was even greyer than before and he clutched his chest.

"Call the medics!"

* * *

**Author's notes: **Thank you for the reviews. Two months since the last chapter, but I suppose late is better than never.

In the past I replied to every review, but the increasing number (a fact that I'm very grateful for) makes that a very time intensive task. Considering my increasingly sparse free time I will no longer write a reply to every review. I will continue to answer questions or reply to especially thoughtful reviews, but even that might take me a while.

This chapter had ninjas, pirates and even a pirate-ninja. Sadly no ninja-pirates made an appearance.

The scene between Hinata and Sasuke isn't indicative of any pairing (I still haven't decided on those); it's just a bonding experience between friends.

So long.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 7**

It had been several days since the pirate incident and Kurenai was still deep in thought about what had happened. Hinata having no problems with killing was… unexpected, to say the least. The girl had always suffered from an excess of kindness, shyness and unwillingness to hurt other people in addition to lack of self-confidence. Of course, it was still possible that this had been a one-time occurrence.

'_I will have to monitor the situation closely and perhaps consult someone with more psychological knowledge once we get back to the village.'_

Genuinely lacking an emotional response to killing could be very useful to someone in their profession, but it also could become a factor leading to sociopathic behavior or other mental problems. Kurenai didn't think it likely considering Hinata's personality and the conversation between her and Sasuke she had overheard, but prevention was better than cure. The young Hyuuga's home situation was worrisome and could produce or magnify all sorts of issues. Not for the first time she wished she could do something about that, but all her talks with Hiashi had been completely fruitless. The man just seemed incapable of understanding that his treatment of Hinata was detrimental to her development.

The insight into Sasuke's mind had been likewise unexpected. Kurenai had wondered about how he dealt with the loss of his clan. Sasuke had been eight years of age when his brother Itachi massacred the entire Uchiha clan. For an eight year old not to care at all there had to be something really wrong with Sasuke's close family.

'_Well, considering that his brother went and killed every Uchiha besides Sasuke that's probably a given. Itachi was fourteen at the time. I can't imagine he decided to do that from one day to the next. There had to have been warning signs, signs that went ignored. Even if their parents were that bad, there were a whole lot of cousins, aunts and uncles they could and should have turned to for support. For them to do nothing…'_

Kurenai wondered what it meant for Konoha that at least two leading families of the major clans were such abject failures at parenting and no one else intervened. At least it seemed that both Hinata and Sasuke were opening up to each other and resolving their issues without her intervention. That was good. After all, she couldn't exactly tell her genin that she had listened in on their conversation. Hopefully they would confide her in at some point. She would keep her eye on the situation, though.

Returning her attention to the present, Kurenai observed her genin trying to master the first step of their elemental training, with the emphasis on trying.

"That's enough for now. Take a break; you can continue in half an hour." she finally announced. "In the afternoon we will switch to genjutsu training."

With a reluctant sigh Sasuke stopped and put the leaf back into the basket of leaves they had collected on their last stop, the two others following his actions. "But we didn't make any progress, sensei."

"I didn't expect you to make any." Kurenai answered candidly. "Elemental training is difficult and time consuming. Progress will be very slow and often seem nonexistent. That's the nature of the training. If it were easy everyone would master all elements. Even jonin usually master only two or three elements."

"How long will it take for us to see results, sensei?" Shino asked while Hinata performed some stretching exercises to get the stiffness out of her limbs.

"You mean until you have mastered the leaf exercise? Probably a few weeks with constant training, but it might take up to two or more months. It varies considerably between individuals. By then you should notice some improvement in your ability to perform elemental jutsu of that element." she replied. "And before you ask, I will teach you some once we reach our destination. A ship on the high seas is not the place to learn new jutsu."

Hinata finished her stretches. "What about mastering the element completely?"

Kurenai shrugged. "That's difficult to say. Mastery of an element is more a matter of degrees than of absolutes; there's always room for improvement. Since you are training in your natural affinity I would estimate two to four years until you can produce combat-grade elemental chakra. That's the usual definition of mastery."

The woman chuckled when she saw the looks of dismay appear on the faces of her pupils. At their age that probably seemed like an eternity. "Now, now, it isn't that bad. The five to ten years you need for an element you don't have the affinity for are much worse."

Their faces grew even longer. Even Shino's expression was far more discernible than usual. Kurenai found that very funny.

Sasuke was the first one to find his voice again. "Isn't there a way to speed things up?"

"In theory, yes, but I wouldn't advise it. Elemental training is relatively dangerous, especially the advanced exercises. If you take shortcuts that danger rises considerably. You don't want to accidentally cripple yourselves, do you?" Seeing their (reluctant) nods, Kurenai stood up and made to leave their cabin. "I'm going on deck to get some fresh air. Don't continue until I'm back, okay?

A minute later she stood near the bow of the ship that was carrying them towards their destination, letting the breeze ruffle her hair and sea foam spraying into her face. The weather made staying on deck for more than a few minutes rather uncomfortable, though. Their cabin was a bit stuffy, but it was an improvement to their last ride. This ship was considerably larger, but that was natural for a deep-sea vessel. They had changed ships in the Land of Tea and were well on their way to the Land of Sea.

Once they had settled in Kurenai had tested her genin's elemental affinity; something she had wanted to do for some time. Neither the Aburame nor the Hyuuga were known for any specific element or noteworthy usage of elemental techniques, but it couldn't hurt to start them early on their training. They would be thankful in a few years. Mastery of an element made using related elemental jutsu easier and more chakra-efficient. As a rule of thumb it was impossible for a shinobi to use techniques not of his elements higher than C-rank. They either became cost-prohibitive or too difficult to control or both.

Hinata's earth and Shino's water elemental affinity seemed to be of average strength, no surprises there. Sasuke had been a surprise, though. The strong fire affinity she had expected; the Uchiha had been widely known for their expertise at fire jutsu and Sasuke's skill with the Great Fireball technique had been a good indicator. What she hadn't expected was the affinity for lightning he possessed in addition. Dual affinities were very rare outside of certain advanced bloodlines (none of them native to Konoha), but not unheard of.

'_I will have to find another teacher for Shino once he makes some advances. I know the basics, but I have only mastered fire and earth. Sasuke will be busy for the foreseeable future with fire, no need to add lightning training for a few months. By the time he will get to the point of needing an advanced teacher our team will be dissolved anyway.'_

It wasn't certain, but Kurenai didn't expect their team to last more than two or three years, that being the usual time. The first year she would constantly accompany them, but after that she would spend at least part of her time back on higher-ranked missions while her team fulfilled lower-ranked missions of their own. Occasionally one of her genin would be switched out for a member of another team, but Team 8 (or rather Team Kurenai after the team evaluations in a few months) would remain their standard assignment. Once three years were over the genin (or maybe chunin by then) would either join a department, another team or remain as free agents. A team staying together longer was possible (the famous Ino-Shika-Cho trio or the Sannin came to mind) but unlikely. Still, that was a long way off. For now they were hers to teach and she would make certain they had a good grounding in all the basics so that they could improve themselves in self-study later.

In two days they would arrive in the Land of Sea's main port. Once they completed the missions the local populace had for them they would find a secluded spot and train in earnest. They had several weeks until they had to return to Konoha. By then the purges should be over.

'_There isn't anything of note in the Land of Sea. We should be completely undisturbed and out of danger.'_

* * *

"A failure, he said. The project is cancelled, he said. Took all my subordinates, he did. Something more important, he said. I will show him. I will show them all." His hands caressed the unconscious girl lying on the operating table. "And you will help me achieve my goals, sweetling." He took a razor-sharp scalpel into his hand and prepared to make the first cut. "The entire world will bow to my genius."

* * *

Koharu carefully sat down in the spacious room at the heart of the Torture and Interrogation Department. Her knee was giving her trouble again and she felt old and tired. The last few days had been very difficult and hectic. Keeping up a calm front only added to the strain.

"How is the Sandaime?" Inoichi asked after all participants of the meeting had assembled.

"Slowly dying." Koharu answered bluntly, no trace of the anguish she felt appearing on her face or in her voice. "His heart is giving out. The last shock was just too much. He's sleeping most of the time, but even when he is awake he is rarely coherent enough for a conversation. According to the medics he might recover somewhat over time if he is given absolute rest. Even then it is unlikely that he will see the next year. Hiruzen is no longer fit to serve as Hokage."

"Troublesome. Is there any chance for him to at least advise us?" Shikaku questioned.

Koharu shook her head. "None. Even the slightest agitation might be his death. We are on our own."

Hiruzen's heart attack had come at an inopportune moment. They needed an authority figure like him to keep the peace once the purges started. For now they had managed to keep his illness a secret; an ANBU with an advanced henge posed as him and the number of people in the know was strictly limited.

After a moment of silence Homura raised his voice. "It can't be helped then. I think we should keep Hiruzen's status a secret until after the chunin exams. The double will announce his retirement and successor at the end of the exams. Sometime later we will make his illness public. Do you have any objections, Hokage-sama?"

The addressed figure heaved a heavy sigh before it looked at Shikaku and Inoichi for advice. Both jonin nodded after a moment of thought. Another sigh later Choza Akimichi, the new Godaime Hokage, turned back to the table. "No, you are right. We can't afford the unrest the news would bring, not now."

"Hiashi, Tsume and Shibi will have to be informed soon. With them on board we have the necessary quorum to formally acknowledge you." Koharu remarked. Choza was not the candidate she would have chosen (Shikaku or Inoichi would both have been more suited in her opinion), but overall she could accept Hiruzen's choice for a successor. Choza was strong, well-known and respected. They had brought him mostly up to speed in the last days; he hadn't been involved in their endeavor to investigate and cleanse their ranks. She only thanked the gods that Hiruzen had finally made provisions for his death or incapacitation. It would have been catastrophic if they would have needed to go through the trouble and choose the new Hokage among all the possible candidates in their current situation. The recommendation from Hiruzen made that far easier. Koharu doubted any of the other clan heads would object.

"I will visit them later today." Choza said. He turned towards Ibiki. "I want to know more about your efforts to find all the foreign spies. I was briefed that we are gearing up for a full-blown purging of the ranks. Are things really that bad?"

Ibiki exchanged a look with Inoichi and grimaced. "Probably worse. The situation is nearly catastrophic."

Inoichi took over. "We found a large number of leaks in my department. Tracing them back, we discovered that practically every village has managed to insert several spies with their individual circles of informers, giving them access to practically everything. Our counter-intelligence is basically non-functional… and the head of the department is a traitor. We have secretly replaced him and are currently still picking apart his mind. Regarding the foreign spies, most are what you would expect under these circumstances. They relay information and do subtle lobbying for their employers' interests. There is something extremely worrying though we discovered once we began interconnecting the information."

The Yamanaka clan head and head of the Intelligence department gestured at the far wall of the room. It was covered by pictures of various people and notes while a web of strings connected them. Several blackboards were standing in the room, their surface covered in chalk drawings.

"There are three major, independent factions penetrating the whole village. I remind you that this information was mostly determined by interrogating the identified spies in the Intelligence department and is subject to change once we begin the main operation. The first network we have been able to identify as belonging to Danzo. Its main purpose seems to be to keep Danzo informed of all happenings, suppress information about his activities and that of his private army and prepare his eventual takeover as Hokage by suborning more and more people. The network's activities aren't directly harmful to Konoha, but the indirect damage due to information suppression is considerable. Ibiki will give an overview what we found in Danzo's mind in another meeting once everything has been compiled, but suffice to say they have been there in some form since Danzo was the ANBU commander starting around the end of the first shinobi war. The members of the conspiracy are so intrinsically linked with Konoha that the extent was never discovered – especially as they still consider themselves loyal to the village and the Sandaime let Danzo do as he liked."

"The second group is the one that has perhaps done the most damage to Konoha as a whole and is the most insidious. It is a hostile intelligence operation with a specific, long-term goal." Inoichi paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "They have been here since before the third shinobi war, possibly even earlier. Sleeper agents were planted, shinobi and civilians abducted when convenient and brainwashed, but never in numbers that would be noticed. Still, considering the amount of time they had to do their work their agents are nearly everywhere. The oldest agent we discovered was inserted more than three decades ago."

"And they were never discovered?" Choza asked.

Ibiki shook his head. "No. Their mental conditioning can only be detected by a mental deep scan that isn't a standard procedure. They aren't here as spies. There isn't any information flow or suspicious communication to be found. Neither are they performing direct sabotage of operations that could be easily tracked. The members don't know of each other; the individual cells don't communicate. Their sole purpose is to act as completely loyal Konoha shinobi to get into positions of authority… or get incompetent people there instead. Once there they start to subtly encourage sloppiness, reduce standards and turn a blind eye to harmful developments. If some problems are discovered they try to downplay them."

Koharu had to suppress a shiver upon listening Ibiki's and Inoichi's explanations. All the things they had noticed in the academy and elsewhere, the slipping standards and sloppiness were only possible due to that sabotage. It was so incredibly subtle as to be virtually unnoticeable. Two people in the Torture and Interrogation department had belonged to them. Three of the four chief secretaries of the Hokage had slanted reports, given biased information and subtly manipulated everything that was headed towards Hiruzen's desk. Oh, they had never given outright false information that could have been discovered, but this influence was far more insidious. A secretary could do a lot of perfectly inconspicuous things to steer his superior into a specific direction. Together with Hiruzen's own biases, faults and long reign this infiltration had done massive damage to Konoha's long-term prospects and opened the door for the infiltration attempts of other parties that did more direct damage.

"Who is responsible for this?" Homura asked.

"Judging from the patterns of the mental conditioning it was Kirigakure. I found enough reference material in the archives of my clan." Inoichi replied. "Interestingly the introduction of new infiltrators ended when the Yondaime Mizukage took office. We surmise the entire endeavor was a secret project of the Sandaime Mizukage. The full extent will only become clear when we start with the general purges. I'm still confident to say that this is probably one of the most successful and damaging intelligence operations in the history of the shinobi villages. A few more years of undiscovered activity and we would have been weakened so greatly as to be easy prey in the event of another shinobi war. It will take us years to repair all the damage."

For a few moments silence descended over the room as everyone digested the information.

Choza was to first to speak up again. "And the third network?"

Ibiki looked bemused for a second. "They are actually the ones we can thank for discovering this. They are sloppy and overconfident, secure in their knowledge that our counter-intelligence is useless. Their sabotage is obvious once one cares to look closely… just as the honored councilors did with the academy. That got the ball rolling." He grew serious. "Unfortunately they represent the most direct threat to Konoha's safety at the current time. They are followers of Orochimaru... and the snake is planning something big in the near future."

Inoichi looked decidedly unhappy. "My department is still picking up the pieces and reorganizing after the purge. We were a primary target. I'm not sure we would even notice in time if one of the other great villages is openly mobilizing these days. We are still practically blind to external threats. Another problem is that the larger part of our intelligence network answers to Jiraiya… and only to him. I don't doubt that he personally is very capable, but he is far too often out of contact. The information flow leaves a lot to be desired. Additionally he is a single point of failure. Without him his entire network is useless."

"Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about that now." Koharu replied with a shrug. "He has been ignoring summons to return for several months."

"How long until we can start the full-scale purge?" Shikaku demanded to know.

Ibiki was the one to answer. "Two weeks. ANBU is still recovering and we will need the cleared personnel from the Intelligence department to help."

"That is a little more than one week after the start of the chunin exams." Choza remarked with a frown. "The first competitors from other villages are already arriving."

"The timing is unfortunate, but it can't be helped. At least the purges should be over by the time of the finals." Inoichi explained. "I will brief you in detail after this meeting is finished, Choza. There are still some decisions to make that have been delayed because of the Sandaime's illness."

"Such as?"

"Most importantly, we do not know what to do with Danzo's Root operatives we have captured and finished interrogating. Most of them are thoroughly brainwashed. It will take us months to rehabilitate them. Until then every one of them is dangerous. Unfortunately we just don't have enough people capable of doing that. Additionally we don't have the holding capacity for that many prisoners, not with the upcoming general purges." Ibiki answered.

Choza was still for several seconds, his face an expressionless mask. Then his eyes hardened. "Keep only those with valuable skills. Dispose of the rest."

Koharu had not expected that. Choza was generally a gentle and caring man. She was sure Hiruzen had picked him because of their similarities in philosophy. _'My, my, how surprising. Little Choza has come a long way. I approve. The time for holding back because of irrational emotional sensibilities is over. After all, we are a shinobi village, not a pony farm.'_

The others present agreed, with obvious reluctance on Inoichi's and Shikaku's part. Ibiki seemed to have no problems with that decision. Neither had Homura.

Her old friend now raised his voice. "The other important matter is the decision of what to do in regards to Naruto Uzumaki. His seal is breaking down as we speak and I don't feel comfortable in delaying any longer. We should have around three weeks until there is any real danger of the Kyuubi breaking free, but I would prefer not to risk it."

Choza blinked. Then he blinked again. "What exactly is the holdup? For that matter, what exactly is wrong with the seal?"

Homura sighed deeply. "I'm not exactly sure I can explain it in laymen's terms. It's a very complicated design incorporating elements from several styles. It is far more complex than Kushina's or Mito's seal. A modified Uzumaki style is the prevalent one, but there are elements in the deeper layers I have never seen in my life. Still, the seal is obviously eroding at a rapid pace." He sighed again, this time even more deeply. "The only thing that can be done is forcefully extracting the Kyuubi and resealing it into a temporary, inanimate container. That will most likely kill young Naruto. The container I prepared should last around a year, enough time to find a more long-term solution. I see no alternatives. The seal is already damaged enough that killing the jinchuuriki might release the Kyubbi instead of dispersing it for a few years. This is not a decision I am prepared to make alone. It will take me several days to set everything up at a site a safe distance from the village."

Once again silence descended on the room for almost a minute.

"Do it."

* * *

Hidden in the shadow between two buildings Shino listened attentively to the two villagers discussing the latest gossip and rumors. It seemed in the past ten years there had been a long string of people disappearing without a trace. A young girl named Isaribi was the latest victim and had disappeared only a few days ago. The inhabitants of the islands chalked it up to spirits.

Soon the conversation ended and the villagers went their own ways. Shino departed without anyone noticing him and made his way towards the camping spot of Team 8. They had arrived in the Land of Sea several days ago. After delivering the money they had been hired to transport Kurenai-sensei had accepted several rather easy tasks from the local merchants and nobles. Nothing had been worth specifically sending for a group of shinobi, but since they were already on site people who could afford it had been happy to hire them. A bit of spying on competitors or potentially unfaithful spouses, investigating a small smuggling business that circumvented the local taxes and tariffs, bringing down a particularly big and vicious boar that had evaded the local hunters for over a year, things like that. Frankly, the pirate attack on the journey had been far more exciting. The Land of Sea was a peaceful backwater without much of note happening… aside from the mysterious disappearances.

Shino was the first to return to their camp site, all the others were still out gathering information. The Land of Sea of was a small archipelago of about two dozen islands of varying size, not all of them inhabited. They had made a circuit of all the inhabited islands and would stay at their current location for about two weeks for purposes of training. Then they would visit all the islands again before returning to Konoha; Kurenai-sensei had already arranged for them to act as guards of a small shipping convoy that would transport dried fish to the Land of Fire. Well, more specifically they were to protect a shipment of valuable pearls.

'_Sometimes I wish an interesting fight would happen.'_

He wanted to fight strong opponents, but so far nothing had happened in his career as genin. Even the pirates had been taken care of by Kurenai-sensei and his two teammates. He felt a little envious about that. Well, perhaps something interesting would come out of this investigation. Kurenai-sensei had ordered them to unobtrusively gather information as an exercise and these disappearances looked promising. Since the rest of the team was still away Shino busied himself by improving his water walking. Their sensei had showed it to them when they arrived on the islands. Not needing a boat was an invaluable skill under these circumstances and at the current time he had nothing better to do. He had already examined all interesting types of insects on this island he could find, after all.

One hour later Kurenai and his teammates returned.

"It's the same on every island. People are disappearing from time to time, but they are generally nobodies. Their families don't have the money to hire investigators and the nobles mostly don't bother. The number of people disappearing is small enough not to disrupt their lifestyle or the economy." Sasuke summarized their findings.

Hinata nodded. "The people don't talk with outsiders about it. They believe spirits are responsible and fear to anger them."

"Their silence is illogical. It has been going on for about ten years and isn't likely to stop." Shino said. "Why did nobody hire shinobi to look into things?"

Kurenai sighed. "Like Sasuke said, the affected families don't have enough money to pay for shinobi. The Land of Sea's ruler pays Kirigakure for protecting the islands from external threats, but since the people keep their mouths shut they probably ignore the issue or aren't even aware of it. The shinobi assigned to a backwater such as this are usually not the best. Kiri doesn't maintain a constant presence here; just like us groups of shinobi visit only every few months." A smile appeared on her lips and a glint entered her eyes. "We can use this situation to our advantage. If we are able to find the cause for the disappearances and remedy it the people would surely be very thankful. Depending on what we discover the local daimyo might even switch contracts to our village. I say that this is well worth some charity work."

Shino and the others nodded. While shinobi were mercenaries that worked for payment occasionally the need for unpaid missions arose. Generally that was done with the expectation of future profits, be it by improving the village's reputation or convincing possible clients of the wisdom of hiring Konoha shinobi.

"I already made some subtle inquiries of my own. Judging from where the most people disappeared Demon Island is most likely to house the culprits. It could be some sort of animal or monster, pirates, slave traders or perhaps even enemy shinobi. Did you hear anything specific regarding that island?" Kurenai asked.

Shino and Sasuke shook their heads, but Hinata spoke up. "One boy I asked told me that from time to time there were strange lights visible at night on the water near the island, every three or four weeks in fact. The last sighting was about two weeks ago. There were more lights than usual."

Kurenai nodded thoughtfully. "That might be ships coming and going to a hidden anchorage under the cover of night. If they play up the spirit-angle and use a few illusions the superstitious fishermen would avoid the area. Okay, let's do some training as long as we have light. Tomorrow we head to Demon Island."

Several hours later Shino and the others sat around the campfire in comfortable silence. Kurenai-sensei had gone for some long-distance reconnaissance, leaving them alone. They were a good team. Since the incident on the pirate ship Hinata and Sasuke had grown closer, but Shino didn't feel excluded. He knew his personality didn't lean itself well to casual conversation.

"Do you think the chunin exams have already started back home?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Hinata frowned slightly. "I think so. Yes, today should be the first day of the exams."

Sasuke sighed. "I wonder how we would have done if we had stayed in the village and sensei entered us. Maybe we could have set a new record in becoming chunin only a few months after graduating."

"There will be opportunities for promotion in the future." Shino replied. "But I agree; it would have been a good test of our abilities."

They continued talking for a while until Kurenai returned and they got ready for sleep. Shino mentally sighed when he assumed his sleeping position. He would have liked to fight in the chunin exams. There were surely a lot of strong opponents there. Defeating them would have been a worthy test of his own skills.

* * *

Tenten had only the fraction of a second to realize that their ambush was going catastrophically wrong. In the next moment the winds that had deflected her projectiles reached her location, picked her up and slammed her against the tree behind her. She had barely slid down to the ground when another gust of wind slammed her again against the tree. Then a large branch came down on top of her, trapping her body. This time she felt bones breaking and pain shot through her body.

Black spots danced before her eyes, but she could still see what happened to the rest of her team. Neji had downed his black-clad opponent, but Lee's attack against the red-head had been stymied by a shield of animated sand. The blond girl she had originally targeted had already turned away from her and launched another attack. Tenten tried to shout a warning, but only a gurgle emerged from her throat. In the next moment Lee was caught by a wind torrent that caused him to stumble and pushed him towards the red-head. The animated sand that he had evaded before closed around him and compressed with a sickening scrunch and agonized scream.

Neji was already running at the two still standing opponents, but before he could close the range the blond girl had once again swung her giant fan. Neji obviously saw the attack coming and jumped out of the way. Unfortunately sand was already cutting off his retreat. Working together the two genin from Suna gave him no avenue of escape. The girl stayed at range and corralled him with wind blasts until the sand of the red-head could reach him. Hyuuga like Neji generally couldn't be blind-sided as long as they kept their byakugan active, but he had just no room to dodge. Another scream full of agony marked the death of her second teammate.

Tenten's vision was already blackening out, but she could still hear her enemies talking.

"Seriously, what is happening here? This was the third Konoha team to attack us head-on since we entered the forest. Don't these people know who we are? We are well known and have been visibly wandering the streets for days. Did no one in Konoha brief their genin?" the girl asked.

"That doesn't matter. Those who meet my eyes must all die. Mother is content. Pick up the idiot; he is still alive. We are heading to the tower."

Tenten could hear them leaving before unconsciousness finally claimed her.

* * *

**Author's notes: **Thank you for the reviews.

The story is becoming more death-rich than I originally envisioned, but they will serve their purpose in time I think.

Regarding Shino's and Hinata's elemental affinities, you'll notice they are different than in my other Naruto story. Since there's no indication in canon what affinity they have and the exact element isn't important for the story I simply threw dice.

So long.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 8**

Homura Mitokado, sixty-nine year old councilor, teammate of the Sandaime Hokage and most experienced seal master of Konoha, checked the various seal arrays one last time. It was the fifth time he was doing that, but he couldn't risk overlooking even the tiniest mistake. If something went wrong they would have a very big, very angry and very powerful demon fox standing at their location. The fact that his death would probably come very swiftly was cold comfort. Minute traces of the Kyuubi's chakra had been leaking out of the seal for days, filling the area around Konoha with their barely perceptible presence and giving every halfway competent sensor undeniable proof they held the Kyuubi in a disintegrating seal. His original estimate of the seal's endurance had been too optimistic. They didn't have much time left.

The still insensate jinchuuriki had been placed in the center of the primary seal array. A seal-covered wooden statue serving as the Kyuubi's future container was at the center of a connected array. Several secondary arrays served various purposes that might be needed during the procedure. Homura dearly hoped the tertiary array would not be necessary. Its sole purpose was to annihilate everything in the immediate vicinity; if worst came to worst it would hopefully be enough to slay the Kyuubi and disperse it. Several of his assistants were preparing themselves for supporting him in the sealing. A team of medics waited a short distance away, ready to intervene if one of the sealing specialists needed treatment and save the life of young Naruto if possible. Even further away was a high-caliber protective detail that should protect them from any interference. Naturally, everyone present was extremely nervous.

The old man breathed deeply one last time. "Very well. Is everyone ready?" Receiving affirmative answers from each group he nodded gravely. "Then let us begin. Start on my signal. Three. Two. One. Begin."

Homura began to channel chakra into the seal array, his assistants following suit. In the next second the array flared to multi-colored life. Fountains of sparks flew high as the seal array made contact with the Yondaime's seal and forcefully unfolded it ever so slowly, allowing them to dismantle it bit by bit. They had to achieve a controlled transfer while avoiding a sudden collapse of the seal. Black markings spread out over Naruto's entire body.

For a few minutes nothing spectacular happened while Homura and his helpers carefully peeled the uppermost layers away. Then they hit the first expected major problem. The seal was a lock-and-key model, but unfortunately they had no idea as to what or where the key was. With enough research Homura was confident he could have crafted a spare key, but there just wasn't enough time. Additionally the lock had already been damaged to some degree, making its functionality doubtful.

Wrenching it open forcefully produced another shower of sparks and an opening black hole on the jinchuuriki's belly. Then the Kyuubi's chakra emerged in earnest and Naruto began to scream and trash against the bonds holding him. Homura blocked out the screaming and concentrated on the task at hand. An endless stream of dark red, malevolent chakra spilled out of the Yondaime's seal and formed a rotating storm cloud over their heads, bathing them in blood-red light. Other seals immediately sucked the chakra away, funneling it into the wooden statue.

As more and more chakra left the boy Homura dismantled the seal step by step, following the plan he had developed after examining it in-depth. As far as he could tell something had damaged part of the seal's internal structure during the boy's fight in the Land of Waves. The resulting 'crack' had allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to reach sections that had never been intended to come into contact with it and erode them slowly away. He had been unable to determine what exactly the source of interference was; only that it was still stuck there and prohibited any repair of the seal.

Sweat dripped from Homura's face in small rivulets as minutes stretched into a quarter hour. Directing the other sealing specialists while taking care of the most complicated parts was demanding his full concentration. A sudden flare of the Kyuubi's chakra accompanied by a sizzling sound almost undid them. From one moment to the next a bulge formed in the chakra cloud before it splashed over two of the shinobi at Homura's side. They died screaming, reduced to half-consumed, shriveled husks. Part of the sealing array had burnt out under the stress of handling the tailed beast. Homura immediately shunted the chakra through one of the secondary contingency arrays, causing the flow to settle down. The others didn't interrupt their work while the corpses were dragged away and two new shinobi took the place of the deceased.

'_Something is wrong. The array is eroding considerably faster than it should. I took the corrosiveness of the Kyuubi's chakra observed during the transfer from Mito to Kushina into account, but this is several magnitudes worse.'_ Homura thought, frantically searching for a solution while icy-cold fear gripped his heart. At this rate the array would break down before they could fully transfer the Kyuubi. Even worse, they couldn't stop anymore.

"Tomoko, take over! I have to look at something!" the old man commanded.

Receiving confirmation, Homura withdrew from the group effort. Instead he activated one of the secondary arrays and separated a small glob of the Kyuubi's chakra from the main stream.

'_What can it be? What makes the Kyuubi's chakra behave so differently now?' _Homura asked himself while running every diagnostic method he could think of. Unfortunately they gave no explanations for the effect he was seeing. He was already pulling out the most esoteric testing methods in his repertoire when a test reading caused him to stop dead in his tracks.

The blob of Kyuubi chakra consisted almost entirely of Yang-chakra. There were only minute traces of Yin-chakra to be found.

'_That doesn't make sense. If this sample is representative it looks like as if half the Kyuubi's chakra is missing. What could have caused this?'_

Well, the only opportunity when something like this could have happened was the short time between the Kyuubi getting loose and the Yondaime sealing it again. Homura had not the slightest idea why the Yondaime (or anyone else) would do such a thing. Neither had he the time to think about it too deeply; now that he had found the source of the problem he needed a solution, preferably before the entire seal array failed and killed them all. From the looks of it the Kyuubi (or its chakra) was trying to replenish its Yin half from the omnipresent surrounding chakra, making it much more corrosive than normal.

'_Is there any way to restore the balance?'_ Homura asked himself after he directed his sample back into the main flow. Nothing came to mind immediately. While Yin and Yang were the basis of chakra they were very seldom manipulated directly. Granted, techniques were often associated more with either Yin or Yang, but that was mostly an academic view without relevance for practical application. How such an imbalance would affect a tailed beast was even more of an unknown. The tailed beasts had been regularly sealed away for decades, but research on them wasn't exactly easy or safe. Most people were very reluctant to do anything that might even potentially destabilize a jinchuuriki's seal.

A scream signaled the death of another member of the sealing group. Looking towards the origin of the scream, Homura saw that another part of the primary seal array had burned out, allowing a second bulge to escape the chakra stream. In the next moment it returned to normal when the remaining members of the group compensated, but they were running out of time. Somehow he had to reduce the chakra's corrosiveness to normal levels. The only way that came to mind was somehow adding Yin-chakra into the mix and hoping that it would somehow recombine.

'_Think. What can we do? Think. A seven symbol lotus seal splitting chakra into its components… with a Wild River Divide modification to keep them from immediately recombining… Yes, that might work… but what to do about the interference?...Tortoise style combined with a four-tile Bamboo transition, perhaps… no, that won't hold together… a Crescent Moon array centered on a Solar Eclipse seal to prevent it from affecting the main array would be better…' _Homura thought while he began hurriedly modifying one of the less important, unused secondary seal arrays. He really hated improvising under pressure, but he didn't reach his old age by being unable to devise new solutions on the spot. _'A Blooming Orchid junction to tie it into the main array… we can't supply the chakra ourselves, the Kyuubi has far too much chakra for us to provide everything that is missing… inverse Hungry Locust seal shielded by a Smooth Marble five-seal circle overlaid with a directional Beaten Path constellation to draw in ambient chakra… connect it with a lopsided Uzumaki-style Gathering Storm drainage array to funnel the excess Yang-chakra away… better add a Leaf on the Wind compensation matrix to smooth out any irregularities in the flow … that should do it.'_

Homura had no idea if his idea would work out or if the Yin-chakra would be compatible with the Kyuubi, but it was their best hope. He retook his position at the control position of the main array.

"I will activate an emergency measure and take over the main array again. It should calm things, but look out for turbulence." Homura began making hand seals. "Three, two, one, seal!"

Slamming his hands on the ground, Homura watched as the hastily modified seal array activated in a display of iridescent light. A barely visible twinkle in the air spiraling inwards towards Naruto was the only indication that the array did its job. Then it made contact with the stream of Kyuubi chakra immediately above Naruto. From one moment to the next the flow smoothed out and the degradation of the main array slowed down considerably.

'_YES!'_

Homura didn't let his exhilaration cloud his concentration in the slightest. What they were doing was still insanely dangerous, but now they might survive their attempt at resealing the tailed beast. If they didn't lose more people they could count themselves extremely lucky. Even during the transfer from Mito to Kushina they had lost four people and that had been under far better circumstances.

Half an hour passed and Naruto's cries finally faded. It seemed the boy had screamed himself hoarse. Homura doubted he was truly conscious; the mental interface of the seal had been one of the most badly damaged parts, effectively keeping the jinchuuriki's mind trapped in a timeless void. If he survived this he probably wouldn't remember anything.

When they reached the halfway point at noon Homura allowed himself a small sigh of relief. If nothing unforeseen happened they would manage to safely reseal the Kyuubi. That left the task of saving the container. The seal was intrinsically linked to young Naruto's chakra network – without the Kyuubi inside the resulting seal collapse would do enormous, almost assuredly lethal damage to his body. That was the main reason jinchuuriki generally didn't survive the extraction of their beast. Well, that and withdrawal from the tailed beast's chakra.

Over the course of the next few hours Homura had to resort to using the secondary arrays several times when various problems arose, but none of them were insurmountable. When only perhaps a ninth of the Kyuubis chakra was left in Naruto he proceeded with dismantling the seal further. The timing had to be exactly right; without the Kyuubi the seal would collapse in minutes at best, but if he dismantled the seal too early the uncontrolled burst of Kyuubi chakra would kill them all.

After disarming several rather nasty fail-safe and anti-tampering measures Homura reached one of the anomalies he had detected when he analyzed the seal. Originally there had been two reservoirs of foreign human chakra encapsulated inside the seal, but one of them had been completely destroyed by the Kyuubi's chakra. He had not the slightest idea what the Yondaime had wanted to achieve with that. Embedded as deeply in the seal as they were he had been unable to determine details, but he thought he had spotted structures that served as triggers for their release. It would merit further research. Carefully scooping out the intact reservoir, Homura activated a specific secondary seal array. A wooden box placed at its center glowed briefly when the chakra was transferred into it. The holding matrix inscribed on the box would keep it stable until he had time to examine it more closely, whatever it was.

The Kyuubi's chakra remaining in the seal was now running low, allowing him to take it apart in earnest. He had just reached another of the anomalies when suddenly a jagged, blood-covered piece of metal materialized, clattering on the ground. The old man spared a part of his attention to watch it. That thing had been in the heart of the crack of the seal. The Kyuubi's chakra clinging to it was eating its substance away, but the metal seemed to regenerate at the same time. Suddenly the blood covering it disappeared as did the regeneration. In mere seconds the piece of metal was reduced to a tiny splinter until the Kyuubi chakra was exhausted.

'_That looked like a sword shard. I will have to look it up, but I believe there was something special about Zabuza's blade and blood.'_

Turning his full attention back to his task, he continued removing the seal component by component. Symbols that had spread across Naruto's body simply faded away until only the black hole on his stomach spewing out the Kyuubi's chakra remained. The seal was a very interesting mix of various sealing styles, but it made dismantling it without triggering a collapse very difficult.

Suddenly Homura stopped in surprise. _'What is this?'_

There seemed to be another seal hidden in the depths of the Yondaime's seal. It was currently inactive and folded up, but it looked like as if it could supplant the main seal if he interpreted those connections correctly. Interestingly it was completely done in the unknown sealing style he had seen elements of interspersed throughout the deeper layers of the main seal.

'_I can't let it remain and I don't have the means to preserve it. A shame, but it has to go.'_

Ever so carefully he severed all connections to the surrounding structures before he removed it. A flare of chakra in one of the secondary arrays and it was gone. There were no further surprises. He did his utmost to remove as much as possible of the seal and prepared the rest for a controlled collapse that would reduce the amount of damage done to Naruto as much as possible. Then he waited for the Kyuubi to be removed completely.

'_Not yet… not yet… almost… NOW!'_

The last of the Kyuubi's chakra separated from Naruto. In the same moment Homura triggered the controlled collapse. From the black hole a jet of ink spewed into the air only to dissolve into sparks of chakra. Smaller and smaller the hole became until with one final flash it disappeared completely. Naruto finally stopped trashing and fell back against the ground, motionless and still. The last traces of the Kyuubi were sucked into the wooden statue, the seal on it locking with a clearly audible snapping sound. Then the entire seal array powered done until it was nothing more than lines on the ground.

The stress of maintaining and controlling the sealing procedures finally relieved, Homura fell to his knees, sucking in deep breaths of air and barely noticing the medics rushing towards Naruto and the other members of the sealing circle. His clothes were completely drenched in sweat and he felt a bone-deep tiredness lurking just behind the exhilaration. The second controlled transfer of the Kyuubi in Konoha's history had been a success.

One of the medics had begun treating him (something about chakra depletion and overexertion), but the old man ignored him and tried to listen in to the group surrounding the now ex-jinchuuriki.

"… isn't breathing…" "…Heartbeat is irregular and faint…" "…damage to muscles, organs and chakra network…"… have to get him into the hospital as quickly as possible…"

Homura tiredly watched the medics carrying Naruto away while he was fussed over by his own medic. From what he had seen and heard the damage to Naruto's body was considerable, but at least the boy was still alive. His Uzumaki heritage probably played a role, too. Homura had done all he could. Now it was up to the medics and Naruto's will to live.

* * *

Gaara winced and rubbed the bridge of his nose. His migraine had just spiked. Since this morning he suffered from a constant headache. It even drowned out Mother and spoiled the chunin exams for him. Under other circumstances he would have enjoyed slaughtering everyone and everything that crossed his path, but in actuality he just wanted to lie down in a dark room with a wet blanket over his eyes. Since the forest was far too noisy for him they had taken the most direct route to the central tower after acquiring a scroll early. The four teams and all those critters that had attacked them so far had been an annoyance and he had wanted them gone as quickly (and as noiselessly) as possible. He didn't care if they lived or died as long as they were silent.

"Are you alright, Gaara?"

"Shut up or I will kill you." Suddenly a group of giant bears broke through the underbrush. The resulting noise wasn't doing his headache any favors. "And take care of that vermin… quietly."

Temari obeyed immediately, shredding the bears to bloody ribbons with her fan. Then they were on their way again, Kankuro still staggering slightly from that Hyuuga's attack. Finally the tower came into sight. Perhaps now he could get some rest to get rid of that blasted headache.

* * *

It was far too quiet. That was Sasuke's main impression of the cave system his team was exploring. They had set foot on Demon Island early this morning and found a cave entrance barely an hour later. It would have been preferable to do that under the cover of the night, but they couldn't risk running afoul of unknown obstacles or missing clues in the darkness. The danger of overlooking something was just too large.

"There should be people here." Sasuke whispered. Shino had sent his kikaichu into the cave before they entered, but the bugs had detected no living humans. Unfortunately they were unable to give Shino more detailed information, leading to Kurenai's decision to explore in person.

"I agree." Kurenai-sensei replied. "Hinata, do you see anything yet?"

"No, sensei. I can't see very far because of the thick walls, but there are only empty rooms so far. Perhaps we should split up?"

After a moment of thought Kurenai shook her head. "No. There is no telling what might be here. I don't want to run the risk of being ambushed and defeated in detail. Keep looking."

Sasuke didn't agree with that decision (surely they were strong enough to deal with most threats), but he kept his silence. Kurenai-sensei had made it very clear that her orders were not to be questioned while in a potentially dangerous situation and she enforced that policy without mercy. They were allowed to give their opinion and make suggestions when there was time, but the jonin was the one calling the shots. It chafed Sasuke somewhat, but he understood that you couldn't lead by committee.

Focusing his attention, Sasuke tried to spot anything interesting or dangerous. From the looks of it their current surroundings had started out as a natural system of caves. Later it had been refurbished into a full-fledged underground base. The first few tunnels had been more of a labyrinth of dead-ends, possibly to make defense of the complex easier. Now they were in the base proper. There had been a few traps near the hidden entrance they had disabled, but since then they had not encountered a single trap. Unlit torches and lamps were spaced along the walls in regular intervals. It was eerie.

"That looks like an armory." Shino remarked when they entered another almost empty room. The rooms were irregularly spaced, probably to make optimal use of the existing caves and minimize the necessary excavation work. By now they had found several sleeping cells and storage rooms, all completely empty aside from some random, discarded items that didn't tell them much. This one contained a few wooden tables and more than a dozen empty weapon racks.

Sasuke approached a suspicious, metallic-looking heap in the corner of the room. "Kunai, shuriken, a few swords and other weapons, all too damaged to be of any further use." he announced after inspecting it more closely.

"There's a large grindstone here." Shino called from the other side of the room.

Kurenai seemed deep in thought. "Interesting. That means shinobi used this base; we wouldn't see this assortment of weapons otherwise. It looks like they abandoned this location and took everything valuable with them. Keep up your guard; they might have left some surprises behind."

They left the armory and explored the base further. The next few rooms were once again sleeping cells. Sasuke supposed it made sense that those were located near the armory so that the inhabitants could quickly arm themselves in an emergency. Finally they arrived at some sort of main junction. Tunnels were leading in several directions.

"I think I hear water from down that corridor."

A short walk later they stood in a large harbor surrounded by steep cliffs. There was only one small boat remaining, but the harbor could easily accommodate two or three big, ocean-going vessels and a variety of smaller craft. Empty crates, bits of rope and other stuff were lying around here and there, but once again it looked as if even more had been removed. A stone quay was jutting quite a distance into the basin. The harbor was bordered on one side by a semitransparent barrier, giving them a view of the ocean overlaid with an insubstantial rock wall.

Kurenai let out a low whistle. "Impressive. That looks like a permanent genjutsu barrier. I bet there is only a cliff visible from the outside. As long as you know the way you can get ships in here under the cover of night with hardly anyone noticing. Well, if they use navigation lights that would explain the tales about spirits. The harbor itself looks to have been created by use of earth jutsu. Look at those walls over there; you can see distinctive traces in the rock. It would look different if this was natural or build by conventional means. This is a major base. It must have taken years to build, but it seems it was evacuated not that long ago for whatever reason. You would see more signs of decay otherwise."

"Perhaps that was why the villagers saw more lights than usual two weeks ago." Hinata interjected. "They must have vacated the base then."

"Most likely. Still, such a base represents an enormous investment. They wouldn't leave it for no reason." Kurenai said thoughtfully. "Obviously they had time to pack up everything useful; they didn't flee in a panic. Let's see if we can find anything."

Further exploration turned up more storage rooms, a prison block, a large mess hall easily big enough for half a hundred people, training rooms and more, all of them empty or nearly so. A few supplies remained, but not many. The base really had everything a major shinobi outpost needed and Sasuke remembered learning about.

Noon was already approaching when they found what had been the rooms of the base's leadership. They had actual windows looking out over the island's interior. The rest of the base had to make do with artificial lighting or light shafts. All but one were empty. In contrast to everything they had seen before one of the suites was fully furnished.

"This is the largest and most luxurious suite. Logic dictates it belongs to the leader. Why did he remain behind?" Shino asked.

"Perhaps his underlings mutinied." Sasuke speculated. "On the other hand, they probably wouldn't have left him alive then."

Whoever the person was, he wasn't very tidy. Dirty clothes and the remains of old meals were strewn across the room. Some of them appeared to be several weeks old, indicating that whoever was occupying the room had been there for longer than the base was abandoned. At least the choice of clothing revealed that the person was male.

"I found a headband, sensei." Hinata announced, holding the object in question in her hands. It looked pretty much like a standard shinobi headband with a musical note engraved. Sasuke had no idea which village it belonged to. Neither had Hinata and Shino from the looks of it.

Kurenai frowned, obviously trying to dig up some memory. "Recently I heard some rumors about a new hidden village. I think they call themselves hidden in the Sound. The musical note as a symbol would fit that. Unfortunately I do not know anything more specific."

"Another proof that this was a shinobi base." Sasuke remarked.

"Yes, and judging from how such things are usually organized the person living here is either a special jonin or full jonin. There isn't any indication that Sound employs any widely famous shinobi, but he will be likely far above your level. Do not try to engage him alone if we find him; keep your distance and make sure nobody attacks from behind while I fight him." Kurenai ordered.

The rooms didn't yield any other useful information. There were no documents of any sort to be found nor anything else that could have given them more hints. Finally they resumed searching other parts of the base. There were still a lot of unexplored tunnels there. As before progress was rather slow because they stayed on the lookout for traps. Getting complacent could easily mean their death. They certainly didn't want to alert anyone to their presence.

Sometime later the group had descended deep into the bowels of the base when suddenly a massive steel door stopped their advance.

"Now that looks interesting. Hinata, do you see anything?" Kurenai asked.

"No, sensei, still nothing. There is only an empty tunnel as far as I can see. The door is barred from the inside. I don't think we can open it from this side."

Kurenai examined the door more closely. "That seems to be the case, but I bet the man we are searching for is somewhere behind it. Or if he isn't there will be something else valuable. Fortunately I can do something about that. Wait here, I will be right back."

Sasuke watched in interest as their sensei began a long string of hand seals. Seconds ticked by until Kurenai's body gained some hard to pin down ethereal quality. Her hands still holding the last seal of the technique, the jonin walked towards the wall besides the door… only to phase into it without the slightest resistance.

Such an occasion made Sasuke wish that he had an active sharingan. It wasn't everyday you got to witness the use of advanced space-time jutsu. They were very complicated and few people specialized in them. Their sensei's ability to walk through solid matter was an impressive example even if the technique was far too slow to be useable in combat. Kurenai had shown it to them some time ago when she taught them about the different kinds of jutsu. According to her she had no special talent with elemental techniques and had wanted to expand her skill set beyond genjutsu.

A minute later the door swung open. "That takes care of that. Come on."

The group had barely entered the new tunnel when Sasuke noticed something important. They had encountered oil lamps and other light sources all over the base, but none of them had been alight. Here though the lamps were burning, allowing them to extinguish their own lanterns. The first few rooms they passed were once again storage rooms – although these were fully stocked.

Suddenly Shino spoke up. "My kikaichu detect traces of two persons. Someone has been moving around here last night."

Kurenai nodded. "Understood. Proceed with utmost caution."

They ran into several dead ends, but finally they found what resembled an operating room. Sasuke wasn't especially familiar with hospitals, but this looked more like a laboratory than what a normal doctor would use for treating patients. The stink of chemicals was overpowering and the operating table looked to have been cleaned recently. Aside from that nothing interesting was to be found.

Leaving the room, Shino led them after a trail his kikaichu had picked up. They passed several rooms and corridors without entering or spotting anyone.

"Sensei, something is happeni-" Hinata began. She was interrupted by the short-lived flaring of a seal array under their feet and a loud, bell-like sound seemingly echoing throughout the entire base.

"Damn it." Kurenai cursed. "That was an alarm seal. It's almost impossible to spot those things because they use hardly any chakra. Nothing we can do about it now. They know someone is here."

They encountered no further traps during their cautious advance. Finally Shino led them into a specific corridor with one door. The group carefully approached the door in question, remaining on the outlook for an ambush or additional traps.

"I see a two by two meter trapdoor about five meters into the room and slightly to the right. One adult shinobi is waiting at the back of the room. A smaller person is near him; not sure if that is a shinobi, too. There are several large animals in an adjoining room. It doesn't look like there are any traps near the entrance. I can't make out more details; the walls are too thick." Hinata announced.

"That will have to do. Remain behind me when I enter the room. Remember your training; we are doing entry procedure 2c." Kurenai commanded before she began making hand seals. Sasuke knew she was casting a protective genjutsu over them, but he didn't notice it in the slightest.

Taking in a deep breath, Kurenai opened the door and rushed inside, the genin behind her. Sasuke immediately tried to get an overview of the room. For now he ignored the main threat (that was Kurenai's to deal with) and searched for other dangers. The room was lined on both sides by huge glass containers filled with a greenish liquid. Something was drifting inside them. Then he took a closer look and felt the urge to vomit.

Each container held a horribly deformed creature inside.

Sasuke just couldn't look away. A common theme seemed to be the existence of fins, scales and gills, but that was only taking it loosely. Nothing was symmetrical and none of these things really resembled each other in their misshapen forms. Features were malformed, entire limbs were missing or completely distorted. Cancerous, bulbous growths were another common theme. Most seemed to have been dissected; at least Sasuke hoped they hadn't been cut open while there were still alive. The worst part was that it was clearly visible that each of these monsters had been originally human. It was only things like a small part of a face here and a few fingers there, but the conclusion was unavoidable. A quick look to his teammates showed Sasuke that both were rather green in the face and wore horrified expressions, but they seemed to be holding up well enough.

Only then did he focus his attention on the back of the room. A grey-haired man clad in a lab coat was awaiting them, a confident smirk on his face. Behind him an even larger tank stood. Inside there was another creature. Since it didn't wear any clothing Sasuke had a good view of its body. This one at least seemed to be symmetrical and even possessed some elegance. Covered by green scales in a darker and a lighter coloration, it had fin-like crests on the head and running along the arms and legs. The limbs themselves were longer than a human's and proportioned differently. There seemed to be webbing between the long toes and fingers. Additionally, it looked vaguely female. There was a swell in the chest area that looked similar to breasts. Large lobes of flesh were sprouting from the creature's temples, drifting in the water. Then Sasuke met the creature's eyes. They were disturbingly human and filled with an unspeakable horror.

The man speaking drew Sasuke's focus back to him. "My, my, long time no see, Kurenai and three children. To what do I owe the visit?" It seemed he had seen right through the genjutsu covering them.

"Amachi." Kurenai's voice was filled with disgust.

"You know him, sensei?" Shino asked.

"In passing. He is an ex-Konoha medical ninja who teamed up with Orochimaru for his sick research and fled the village some time before his master. There is a high price on his head. How dare you do such ridiculous experiments on innocents?"

"Ridiculous?" the man spluttered. "It's not a joke. I have spent my entire life working on this research. Look!" He pointed at the person in the tank. "This model has the ability to live underwater indefinitely. Of course she can breathe there. She also has the ability to swim quickly, coupled with great physical stamina… although I haven't yet gotten around to testing everything. This is a dream that took years to achieve. This is the first step towards building a specialized underwater ninja army, an army that can move freely in the water, something no jonin could ever copy. And when this finally happens I will be able to control all sea routes with my army. Amazing, isn't it? I will stand among the world's greatest people. And I will definitely make Orochimaru regret ever abandoning this research." He made a sweeping gesture. "What do you say to the glory of my work?"

"You are sick." Sasuke answered.

Amachi seemed put off. "Even though you are young you can't understand how revolutionary this research is. Well, I don't even want people like you who have nothing in their head but air to understand my research anyway."

He was about to say more, but instead he suddenly drew several small knives and threw them at seemingly empty air… only for some of them to be deflected with a metallic clang. The air rippled, revealing another Kurenai as her genjutsu dropped.

Both Kurenais were now dashing towards Amachi. Unfortunately the man was already backing up while making hand seals. "Sneaking up on me while I'm busy talking, eh? Take this!"

From one moment to the next the tank with the living creature inside shattered, the water rushing towards their end of the room in a large wave. The Kurenai closer to Amachi didn't manage to evade in time and dispelled in a puff of smoke, revealing her as a shadow clone.

Sasuke and his teammates managed to jump up and towards the nearest wall just in time. The rough surface gave them barely enough purchase to stick to it. A moment later the wave collided with the wall, spraying them with water but doing no further damage. Wiping the water from his eyes, he saw Amachi disappearing through a door in the back wall, dragging the fish creature with him. Kurenai-sensei was already halfway across the room in hot pursuit. "Follow me if you can, but be careful! I can't let him escape!"

"After them!" Sasuke shouted. Kurenai was already through the door before Sasuke and his teammates had even reached the ground.

They were almost at the door when water exploded out of the frame, drenching them completely. Sasuke and Hinata were thrown back a few meters by the force of the water. Shino lost his footing for a moment, but managed to throw himself out of the way of the main stream.

'_That will leave bruises.' _Sasuke thought when he got back to his feet. Hinata coughed out water before she too managed to get up.

By the time they had made it to the next room there was no trace of Amachi or Kurenai. It was hard to see; there were no light sources in the room and most of the one in the last had been destroyed by the wave. The ground was covered in water left over from the last attack. Light was falling through another half-open door.

Hinata tugged at Sasuke's shirt and coughed again, obviously trying to say something. "Big Animals. Here. Four. Surround."

In that moment a loud growl came out of a dark corner of the room. Then a large form blocked the light from exit door.

'_We are too far in the room to retreat safely.' _Sasuke realized. In the next moment Hinata shoved him away. Sasuke managed to turn his stumble into a roll when he felt the hot breath of something on his neck. Springing back up, he unsuccessfully tried to determine the location of their attackers. He could barely make out his teammates thanks to their whitish clothing, but nothing else. The beasts kept to the darkness.

'_Hinata can see our enemies, but Shino and I are practically blind. Light, we need more light.'_

"I'll cause a fire. Stay alert." he shouted before he began making hand seals. This was a good opportunity as any other to test the jutsu Kurenai-sensei had taught him. The increased area of effect made it the better choice than his usual fireball. Just before he launched the jutsu he pressed his eyelids shut. "Close your eyes for a second!"

'Fire Release: Great Flame Flower'

Three fireballs bright enough to see them through his closed eyelids shot from Sasuke's mouth and immediately began to grow. They represented more than half of Sasuke's chakra reserves, leaving him with an empty feeling. In the next moment they collided with a wall, erupting in geysers of flame. A pained roar assaulted his ears. Apparently he had been lucky in his aim and set one of those animals aflame.

Then he opened his eyes again. Most of the spraying liquid fire had been extinguished by the water covering the ground, but there were enough flammable things for the fire to catch on. Now that the fire was illuminating the room he could finally see their enemies and surroundings.

The beasts looked vaguely like over-sized lions. One was burning, rolling on the wet ground in the hope of extinguishing itself. One was standing before the exit, one was near the entrance and the third that had attacked them before was on the other side of the room. The sudden light had apparently disorientied them for the moment. Shattered wooden framework indicated a pen of some sort. Then Sasuke realized something and gulped. If the room had been a bit smaller he could have easily cooked himself and his teammates.

"Take out the one at the exit! Let's get out of here."

A swarm of kikaichu was already detaching itself from Shino and Hinata was making hand seals for a technique, but the beast to the side chose that moment to make another attack run at Sasuke. He immediately jumped away. From the corner of his eye he saw that the ground under the beast at the exit was liquefying and turning into mud, inhibiting its movements while Shino's swarm was descending on it.

Upon landing Sasuke threw a kunai at his attacker. The weapon hit the beast in the shoulder and got stuck in the flesh, but did no further damage.

'_Bad choice. Their hide is too thick for thrown weapons to work.'_

Movement caught Sasuke's attention. The beast that had blocked the entrance was preparing itself to attack Shino and Hinata from behind. Grabbing another kunai, he took aim and let loose. This time the hit was more effective. The beast howled in agony as Sasuke's kunai took out its eye and forgot all intentions of attacking for the moment.

The young Uchiha was about to turn to his teammates when he saw the badly burned beast getting up. Most of its fur and skin had been burned away, but it wasn't incapacitated. The one that had attacked him earlier had collided with a wall and seemed dazed. That gave him a bit of time, enough for another jutsu.

'Fire Release: Great Fireball'

The fireball hit the burned creature frontally, setting it ablaze again. A quick look assured him that the other two were still out of the fight. The one his teammates had been fighting was lying on the ground, twitching spastically. Kikaichu were clinging to its eyes and ears. He guessed Hinata had attacked its internal organs and muscles with her clan's style while it was immobile and distracted.

"Sasuke, behind you!" Hinata screamed, causing Sasuke to jump. Then he saw it. The formerly dazed creature had recovered and lunged at him again.

Sasuke was still in mid-jump when he realized that he wouldn't be fast enough. He still tried to turn out of the way. In the next second something traced lines of white-hot pain across his side and he was spun around. Almost biting his tongue because of the pain, Sasuke managed to land on his feet. In the next moment he had to jump away again.

"Door! Now!" he shouted.

His teammates followed the command immediately, leaving the room. Unfortunately Sasuke couldn't follow them; the creature attacked him again and again. Some of Shino's kikaichu were attaching themselves to it, but it wasn't enough. Then the one-eyed lion joined the fray and things grew dire.

"Stay out!" he screamed. It wouldn't help anyone if his teammates got caught in the room again. Hinata had probably barely any chakra left from using her byakugan so frequently in the last hours.

Several times Sasuke narrowly avoided hits, but it was only a question of time until he was too slow or slipped on the water-covered ground. The creatures were working together to keep him away from both doors.

Suddenly Sasuke had an idea. It was crazy, but it might just work. Taking off at a full run, he headed directly for the exit. As expected one of the creatures jumped into his path, opening its maw wide. Sasuke was just about to become lion food when he deliberately threw himself to the ground. Teeth snapped together not even a finger's breadth before his face when his forward momentum carried him underneath the beast across the wet, slippery ground. As soon as he was free he jumped up again and continued his bid for safety, one of the beasts directly behind him.

Diving headlong through the door, Sasuke collided painfully with the floor. A moment later the wall behind them shook. The beast had tried to get through the far too small door. The wall shook a few times more. Then the creature's face became visible in the doorframe. A kunai thrown into its maw courtesy of Shino discouraged any further attempts to break through the wall.

"We made it." Shino exclaimed, the exertion clearly audible in his voice.

Hinata gave the door a look. "Let's get a bit further away, okay? I know how to get back to the main corridor."

Now that the beasts were no longer a threat and the adrenaline wore off Sasuke suddenly felt the pain. He almost collapsed when he took a look at the injury. The clothing on his left side was completely shredded and everything drenched in blood. Three gouges had been carved into his flesh and were bleeding freely.

"You are injured." a concerned Hinata said. She immediately proceeded to examine the wound more closely. "You are lucky. Those aren't very deep, but you have to get them treated immediately to staunch the blood."

Sasuke waved her away when she was about to unpack medical supplies. "No time. I'll survive. Go and help sensei. I'll follow. Don't wait; I would only slow you down."

Hinata and Shino hesitated for a few moments. Then the young Hyuuga shook her head. "Absolutely not. You could bleed out. We don't leave comrades behind."

"At least one of you should go." Sasuke objected.

"You are right. Sensei might need help." Shino replied after a moment of thought. "I should go; I have more chakra left than you two."

His female teammate looked between them doubtfully, but finally she agreed. Sasuke watched Shino disappear around a corner before he removed his shredded shirt. A minute later Hinata had provisionally cleaned the wound and applied a makeshift bandage to stem the blood flow. Then they followed the others much more slowly. Sasuke could walk on his own, but he didn't refuse Hinata when she moved to support him. A wince told him that she too didn't escape the battle completely unscathed.

Obviously sensing his unspoken question, Hinata reassured him. "The beast at the exit got me. I avoided the claws, but the bruises will probably be very impressive."

Sasuke looked at her appraisingly. She was clearly breathing hard and had a bit of trouble moving but seemed otherwise fine. Then he nodded and they continued tracking the others. The water on the ground made it rather easy. It seemed Amachi was heading towards the harbor, using the exact same way they had traversed before.

When he arrived at the harbor the battle was in full swing. Amachi was standing on the far end of the quay and using the water from the harbor basin to create jutsu he launched at Kurenai. He looked a bit singed and his clothing had suffered several cuts and tears. The single boat they had seen had been destroyed. Their teacher's exact position was pretty much undeterminable amidst a plethora of illusions. It didn't seem as if the enemy was having much luck in hitting the jonin. Shino was keeping a low profile outside of the man's sight and trying to outflank Amachi by sneaking along the harbor wall. Hinata and he took cover behind some crates near the exit. In their state it wouldn't be wise to interfere in the battle.

The creature from the laboratory was lying on the ground next to the man. Suddenly it transformed into a naked human girl under Sasuke's disbelieving gaze. There seemed to be some patches of scales remaining, but otherwise she looked like a normal girl a little older than them. Sitting up, she took stock of her surroundings. Apparently she had been knocked unconscious by Amachi before. Seeing the man occupied, she immediately jumped into the water and began swimming away.

Unfortunately the splash caught Amachi's attention. "Trying to get away, are you? I fear I can't have that; you are my precious prototype."

The girl didn't reply. Instead she transformed again into that fish creature, increasing her swimming speed drastically.

Kurenai used Amachi's distraction for a jutsu of some sort. Sasuke couldn't make out details, but suddenly stones from the quay rose into the air, launching themselves at the man at high speed. Unfortunately he noticed the danger in time and used a jutsu of his own. Water from the harbor gathered around him, forming a protective vortex and deflecting the stones.

'_I wonder how much chakra he has. He has to have used many draining elemental jutsu. Kurenai's genjutsu are much cheaper chakra-wise. She is probably trying to outlast him while looking for an opportunity instead of overpowering him.'_

A moment later the whirl collapsed, but Amachi was already performing another technique. Finally he slapped his hand on the ground. Strangle, nothing seemed to happen. The confident smirk on the man's face made it unlikely that this was a coincidence. Kurenai seemed to be of the same opinion and bided her time without launching another attack.

Suddenly Hinata gasped. "The water, something's wrong with the water. There's a mass of chakra approaching."

Sasuke looked at her questioningly. Before she could elaborate the water in the harbor gathered and rose, forming a giant made of water. The current was strong enough to draw the escaping girl back. Seconds later the summon had formed fully into a vaguely humanoid shape and towered over the harbor. Two indentions looked a bit like eyes and it had two arms. It was easily larger then the ship that had brought their group to the Land of Sea.

"This is Umibozu, an artificial summon I created myself! Since its body consists of water it is indestr- AAAHHH!"

Amachi's speech was interrupted by a stone spike erupting from the quay. He managed to avoid a center of mass hit, but it still connected to the man's right shoulder. It easily shredded flesh and bone, leaving the man's arm hanging limply, only connected to the body by a few shreds of flesh.

"You talk too much." Kurenai's voice echoed across the harbor, its origin pretty much indeterminable. "Give up and I will grant you a quick death."

Amachi was breathing heavily, the blood flowing freely from his destroyed arm and shoulder. "Never! If I don't get to profit from my research no one shall. Umibozu, kill the girl! Then destr-"

It was the last thing Amachi said before kunai thrown by Kurenai pierced his eye and throat. Unfortunately that didn't stop the giant water monster. It picked the girl out of the water, taking her into its body for a moment. Then it hurled her against towards the nearest wall. Sasuke and Hinata watched with morbid fascination. They were out of position and couldn't do anything. The same was true of their sensei.

The girl was just about to hit the wall when a running Shino intercepted her mid-flight. Their combined trajectory changed and they hit the wall at an oblique angle instead of head-on. For a few moments they skidded along, Shino interposing himself between the girl and the wall. Then their momentum was depleted and they began falling towards the ground. Shino somehow managed a graceful landing, carrying the girl in his arms. She had reverted back to human form and was clinging to Shino, looking around wide-eyed.

'_Shit, what about the summon?'_ Sasuke thought. He had completely forgotten about the thing and immediately turned around.

The monster… wasn't doing anything. It just stood motionless in the harbor. Apparently it was pretty much harmless without Amachi giving it orders. Meanwhile, Kurenai had thrown a few more sharp pieces of metal into Amachi's body and was just cutting off the man's head. She was still keeping the creature in her peripheral vision. The fight seemed pretty much finished.

Only then did Sasuke notice how exhausted he was. Blood was leaking through the bandage and his legs were shaking. In the next moment he simply sat on the ground. Now he could rest.

Some time later the group had relocated to the mess hall, turning the tables into makeshift beds. Kurenai had sealed away Amachi's severed head and body for later use and had retrieved the backpacks they had left outside the base. Currently she was seeing to Sasuke's injury in a more professional manner than Hinata was able to. Shino had suffered some minor cuts on his back when he had intercepted the girl. He had given his (somewhat shredded) jacket to the girl to help her preserve her modesty. The girl still seemed completely shocked and hadn't spoken a single word. Hinata was sitting beside her, speaking in a soothing voice. Now that Sasuke could take a closer look he saw that random patches of her skin still consisted of scales. He didn't want to think of what that meant or of the horrifying experiments in general.

Sasuke winced when Kurenai closed the wound with a medical jutsu before bandaging it. "I'm not a medic, but that should hold. No training or physical exertion for you in the next days, Sasuke. What possessed you to simply charge after me? No, nevermind. I think I understand. We will talk about it later. Rest for now."

After finishing the treatment of his wound, Kurenai approached Hinata and the girl. Sasuke simply closed his eyes. He was hurt and tired. The battle had been short but exhausting and the medicine Kurenai had administered made him sleepy. It reminded him of the skill difference between them and a jonin like Kurenai or their enemy. He had never fought them directly, but the collateral damage the fight had inflicted was impressive. His last thoughts before sleep claimed him were about the chunin exams in Konoha.

'_I wonder if we would have encountered enemies of such strength there.'_

* * *

Koharu looked down at the sleeping, heavily bandaged kunoichi with a worried expression. The problems just wouldn't end. Another Konoha team had stumbled upon the injured girl and her dead teammates and decided that getting a comrade to safety was more important than the chance at promotion. Koharu had already arranged for a recommendation in their files, making it very likely they would soon receive regular promotions to chunin by a promotion board. The few shinobi who achieved chunin rank by the way of the chunin exams were only a tiny minority, usually those with flashy skills (who would make a good show for the possible clients among the spectators) or even more rarely those who saw no other chance for promotion and got lucky.

Suddenly Tenten opened bleary eyes. Then her confused expression became panicked.

The old woman immediately recognized the problem. She had witnessed similar scenes often enough. Gently caressing the girl, she began speaking in a soothing voice. "Stay calm. You are safe now. No one will hurt you here. Everything will be fine." Fortunately her words worked almost immediately and the girl calmed down. It wouldn't do to aggravate her injuries. "How are you feeling?"

"Hurts." she managed to croak out. Then she blinked. "Great-grandma?"

Koharu nodded. "Yes, it's me. Your parents left an hour ago to catch some sleep."

"Neji? Lee?"

She sighed. "I'm sorry. There was nothing anyone could have done for them."

A few tears escaped Tenten's eyes before she slipped back into sleep. Koharu sighed again when she stood up and left the room. It wasn't the first time Tenten woke, but she didn't seem to remember the last times. Well, that wasn't surprising considering the amount of drugs in the girl's system.

The medics had done good work and Tenten would be fine… eventually. Koharu was glad about that. Over the decades she had lost a lot of family members. While she had more than two dozen great-grandchildren and wasn't particularly close to Tenten specifically the girl was still family and her loss would have hurt. If she had not been found in time and received first aid things would be looking far worse. Judging from the report Tenten's team had prepared an ambush at one of the main routes to the central tower in the Forest of Death, the site of the second stage of the chunin exams. Since her team had been considered very strong in direct combat Koharu thought it a good plan. Unfortunately they had the bad luck to run into the most dangerous team participating in the exams, the Kazekage's children from Suna. Even worse, they had not known about Suna's jinchuuriki. It was virtually certain the Hyuuga had spotted something, but without knowing what it meant he didn't have a way to recognize the danger.

Koharu blamed herself for that. Despite the sad state of their intelligence network they had known the identity of Suna's jinchuuriki and that the boy was a murderous psychopath. It was common knowledge in Suna, after all. Unfortunately Hiruzen's law about young Naruto's condition meant that the young generation didn't even know what a jinchuuriki was.

'_Once we knew that Gaara would participate all our genin teams should have been warned if not of his status as jinchuuriki than at least of his dangerousness. I should have made sure of it.'_

Unfortunately she didn't. She had completely overlooked it. The village was secretly gearing up for the beginning of the purge and there was just so much to do. She had assumed the jonin-sensei of the teams would do that. Sadly it seemed as if they all had stayed out of the direct preparation for the exams due to some notion of 'fair play'. Koharu scoffed at that. As if being a shinobi had to do anything with something so silly. If you weren't cheating in a competition you weren't trying. If she would have been enrolling a team of her own she would have made sure her genin got as much information about the other contestants as possible. Maybe she would even let slip a few details about the nature of the exams.

'_We have all grown too soft and complacent.'_

The third shinobi war was now more than fourteen years in the past. Since then there had been some minor conflicts, but the major and minor villages mostly avoided violent clashes with each other and didn't let things escalate too far. Most of the current crop of jonin-sensei was in their late twenties. They had been genin and chunin during the war with few exceptions. In other words, they had been recipients of orders without strategic insight or responsibility. They seldom had to make far-reaching decisions and think of what-ifs and contingencies. Thanks to the damage the infiltrators had done and Hiruzen's overemphasis on negotiation and peace they had never learned. Everyone assumed the current rather peaceful state of things would last indefinitely. Oh sure, they had spoken about the danger of new hostilities, but Koharu doubted they had truly internalized it as a real possibility.

'_Add to that to that the 'out of mind' effect of Hiruzen's law and they probably didn't even think of what Gaara is and what that meant for their teams. The younger teams especially went into the exams with a completely naïve mindset. The waivers in case of death were not for show.'_

Sending a jinchuuriki to the Konoha chunin exams was an alarming sign and just short of an act of war, but it wasn't surprising. Their alliance with Suna had grown increasingly strained over the last years. As reluctant as Hiruzen had been to use military means he had been perfectly content to employ what amounted to economic warfare against other villages. Konoha had deliberately undercut mission fees in the Land of Wind, causing the Wind Daimyo to shift business from Suna to Konoha. Muscling in on a major village's core home market was unquestionably a hostile act; normally the villages competed only in the other countries serving as buffers. Gaara trouncing every other genin in the exams (and killing as many of the young generation as possible in the process) was not a disproportionate response.

'_And now we don't even have a jinchuuriki to counter him. Well, it's not like Naruto's chances would have been good considering that he never learned to control the Kyuubi. That isn't even considering the potential collateral damage.'_

She breathed easier now that Gaara was out of their village. Despite his abilities with sand manipulation the boy didn't pose much of a threat. An average jonin would have no problems to take him out. Of course, the possibility of him unleashing the Ichibi before someone could kill him was a far greater danger. The possibility no matter how remote had given her no end of nightmares.

The last contestants had left Konoha yesterday – the losers returned to their villages while the winners from foreign villages (two from the Suna team, two from Kusa, one from Kiri and one from that upstart village Oto) had left towards a secluded training ground far from Konoha. They were not allowed to reenter Konoha until shortly before the finals. Forcing that through had cost them probably some diplomatic capital, but they couldn't afford to let them stay here during the upcoming purge.

Koharu checked up on a few other patients in the hospital that day. Kiba had been released a few days ago, but he still required treatment and was on medical leave for the foreseeable future. Naruto was still unconscious but stable after the extraction of the Kyuubi. Sakura was being kept in an induced coma while several of her bones were slowly reconstructed. A few ANBU were still out of action from taking down Danzo's Root, but fortunately the majority had recovered by now. There was nothing really requiring her personal presence, but it was good for morale when one of the village leaders was seen showing interest. Until the purge kicked off they had to keep a façade of normality and there wasn't anything else she had to do. All preparations were finished and some people were already inconspicuously disappearing. The main event would take place during the coming night.

One hour after nightfall she made her way to the Hokage's office. The Godaime was standing at the window, looking out over the village. When she entered Choza turned around for a moment to give her a nod of acknowledgement before he resumed his silent watch. Homura was sitting on a chair nearby. It was good to see that her fellow councilor had recovered. He had been bedridden for several days after resealing the Kyuubi.

For several minutes nothing happened. Then suddenly a fireball bloomed in the distance. Apparently one of the people they had identified as spies had decided to put up a fight.

"It has begun."

* * *

**Author's notes: **Thank you for the reviews.

It has been a while since I last updated my stories. Unfortunately updates will remain sporadic for the foreseeable future. Work takes up more of my time and I'm mostly too tired to write anything when I have free time available.

Yeah, I made Koharu Tenten's great-grandmother.

Orochimaru's presence in Konoha wasn't detected; since Sasuke wasn't participating (and doesn't yet have his sharingan) there was no reason to make an appearance or impersonate the Grass team.

So long.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**The Scorned Son**

**Chapter 9**

The morning dawned cold and clear, heralding the beginning of a new day for Konoha. In contrast to many other days there was none of the usual hustle and bustle. The streets of the village were deserted, the markets abandoned and the shops closed. A curfew had been declared and the only people moving around were squads of grim-faced shinobi. No one was allowed to leave the village, although shinobi returning from missions were allowed to enter. Civilian traffic was blocked completely. All in all life in the village had ground to a halt. In a few places buildings had been destroyed, the ruins and the occasional splatter of now dried blood the only signs of nightly violence. One after another persons who had fallen under suspicion were sought out and escorted away. Most came quietly, but occasionally someone tried to resist. The ensuing violence was always short, brutal and mercilessly squashed.

Ibiki Morino, head of Konoha's Torture & Interrogation Department, didn't take notice of the new day. Since last night he was at the center of everything in the dungeons, coordinating the purge. For the most part he only organized the effort of dividing the prisoners up, but occasionally he had to take a hand himself.

In contrast to what most civilians and far-too-many shinobi believed torture wasn't the be-all and end-all of interrogation. In fact, inflicting physical pain was a mostly minor aspect of his job. Now, psychological suffering was an entirely different matter and Ibiki could proudly say that he was one of the most skilled experts in that area. Unfortunately such things took a great amount of time; time they simply didn't have. There were far too many prisoners to interrogate.

The answer to that problem was a variety of mind probing techniques, normally applied in concert with more mundane methods. All villages possessed some of them, but Konoha was in the lucky position of being the home of the Yamanaka clan. Only a minority of Yamanaka shinobi specialized in outright mind-reading (telepathy for battlefield communication, taking over foreign bodies and acting as sensors were all far more common) and not all of them were exceptionally skilled, but they gave Konoha a distinct advantage. They were in dire need of that.

The sheer scale of enemy infiltration was staggering. They needed answers and they needed them now. The mind-readers were working as fast as they could without exhausting themselves. It also meant that they couldn't afford to be gentle. Far too many prisoners ended up as broken shells after they were done being mind-raped, but as long as they got all information out of a given prisoner's head that was acceptable. More than once innocents had been caught in the ongoing purge. Ibiki was very unhappy about that. Unfortunately it was unavoidable. Where wood was chopped, splinters must fall.

Ibiki was interrupted in his tasks when he received another call to personally attend another prisoner who had proven to be difficult. Leaving the command centre, he wondered what this one was about. When he entered the cell in question he paused a moment to examine his newest victim.

An unconscious grey-haired man had been strapped down on a table. His body was in bad shape. From the looks of it both arms had been violently removed. One side of his face was a single wound, the damaged facial bones clearly visible in places. His right leg was missing completely and the rest of his body was dotted by wounds. Obviously a medic had stabilized him, but he still looked more at home in an intensive care unit than in an interrogation cell.

The security measures belied that pitiful image. Straps and heavy chains were wrapped around the man. The sheer number of chakra-sealing, paralysis and other sealing tags covering him was staggering. In addition to the two interrogators there were four shinobi guards in the room that kept their eyes glued to the prisoner. More guards were placed outside.

"What have we here?" Ibiki asked one of his subordinates.

"Kabuto Yakushi, genin, twenty years old. The subject was to participate in the chunin exams, but his team bowed out a few days before it started. Originally we had pegged him as a relatively low-ranking spy who facilitated communication between different groups." the woman replied before handing him a file.

"Judging from his state that assessment was in error." Ibiki remarked while he flipped through it.

"Indeed. We gravely underestimated the subject's skills. We tried to apprehend him early last night for his assumed knowledge of a wide range of contacts. At first he pretended to come along quietly, but then he wiped out a team of five of our shinobi. Fortunately another team was nearby and was able to interfere before he could get away. Unfortunately he would have killed all of them, too, but a third group including two jonin heard the commotion and managed to put him down. The subject displayed combat skills befitting of a top jonin and was actually able to heal himself from crippling wounds to a battle-ready state in a matter of seconds. Until now the medics worked to stabilize him enough for an interrogation. Inoichi-sama oversaw things at first, but he was called away to another case before the subject was ready."

Ibiki winced when he read the section detailing the battle. Genjutsu at jonin level, earth jutsu of at least chunin level, taijutsu at low-to-mid jonin level, all those skills made Kabuto quite dangerous, but the worst part was his use of adapted medical techniques in combat. The use of chakra scalpels in particular could be devastating, especially because Kabuto seemed to have integrated them smoothly into his fighting style. A battle medic like this was an extremely nasty opponent. All in all he was solidly among the most skilled A-rank shinobi. Combined with how he had joined the village (he had been found on a battle field and taken in as a child) all these formerly unknown skills proved that he was an enemy agent. In the end Kabuto had been defeated by one of the Konoha jonin ripping his arms and a leg off and smashing him repeatedly against a wall until his chakra ran out, but the jonin had suffered considerable injuries in the process.

"Very well. I will begin the information extraction procedure at once."

Placing his hands a short distance from Kabuto's temples, Ibiki began his journey into the subject's mind. At first glance nothing suspicious was visible, but when he dived deeper he encounter truly formidable mental defenses. Practically all shinobi sooner or later underwent mental conditioning to prevent or at least impede mental intrusion. This belonged to the most elaborate defenses Ibiki had encountered in his career.

It took Ibiki nearly two hours to get through them, brute-forcing his way through Kabuto's mind whenever necessary. In the unlikely event the man ever woke up he would be a drooling wreck, but that didn't disturb Ibiki in the slightest. As long as the information survived everything was acceptable. When he reached the first set of damning memories his eyes flew open in shock. A moment later he caught himself and turned to one of his subordinates. "Send a message to the Hokage and the councilors immediately. Get Inoichi in here, too. This is too important for me to handle alone. The prisoner is to be guarded with maximum security. Do not let him die under any circumstances. We have an enormous problem and not much time."

* * *

"As you can see this base was in use for years, Daimyo-sama. In my best estimate it was built…"

Sasuke had to work hard to suppress a yawn while Kurenai explained the purpose of the hidden base, but he managed. He still felt tired. Thankfully he didn't have to do anything more strenuous than accompany the group and look presentable to impress the daimyo of the Land of the Sea and his entourage. Still, perhaps he should have stayed in bed. Unfortunately he had argued until Kurenai-sensei let him have his way. Now it was too late to change his mind.

It was only the second day that he was up and about. Despite Kurenai-sensei's best efforts the wounds on his side had festered and he had been feverish for several days. Fortunately the laboratories of the hidden, abandoned base were well-stocked with a multitude of different medicines. Without them… well, Kurenai didn't outright say it, but his chances of survival would have been much lower. There certainly wasn't anything of equal quality available anywhere in the local villages.

'_Dying ignobly to an infected wound on my second mission outside the village… that would have been something for the gossipers all over the Elemental Nations to talk about for years.'_

It had driven home how easily even shinobi could die. If he had been only a little slower or made a wrong move one of the beasts kept in the base could have easily killed him. The three ragged scars on his left side were proof enough how close he had come to suffering a mortal wound. Kurenai-sensei had done everything she could to heal the injuries as quickly as possible, but since she wasn't a professional medic-nin she had been unable to prevent scarring. Perhaps he would have the scars removed when they were back in Konoha. Good medic-nin could do that although it was rather expensive. Or maybe he would keep them as a reminder. They weren't at a normally visible location and now that the wounds had almost completely healed they didn't hinder him in his movements anymore.

Sasuke had missed it due to his illness, but in the last few days his team had explored the abandoned base completely and disarmed all traps. Then Kurenai-sensei had led different nobles and other important people through the abandoned base, showing them what had happened for years right under their noses. She was very careful not to blame the local holders of powers, though. Instead she subtly questioned the performance of Kirigakure, the shinobi village that had been contracted by the Land of the Sea to see to their defense against exactly this kind of threat.

To ward off the fatigue Sasuke busied himself with subtly scrutinizing this group of nobles. The daimyo of the Land of the Sea was a small man in his early fifties with a perpetually sour look. From what Sasuke and his team had gathered during their stay on the different islands he had a reputation for exceedingly cruel punishments (the flayed skins of some pirates had been on display at the palace's gate when Team 8 visited the capital), but at the same time he was considered a mostly fair lord by his people. As long as you paid your taxes, behaved respectfully towards your betters, followed the laws and didn't cause any trouble you had nothing to fear. People complained about the taxes, but Kurenai-sensei said they were relatively moderate.

During his childhood Sasuke had occasionally seen nobles visiting Konoha. The few times the Fire Daimyo himself had visited there had been a public spectacle for the entire village. From what Sasuke could see the clothes of the daimyo and nobles of the Land of the Sea were still of much higher quality than those of the populace, but they couldn't measure up to those of the mainland nobles. The Land of the Sea apparently simply couldn't support such extravagance. Aside from that the nobles behaved pretty much like those he was familiar with, namely arrogant and superior.

Just then the group arrived at the harbor. The summoned water giant was still standing there, motionless. His sensei addressed the nobles who looked at the thing with wide eyes. "This harbor was used for the comings and goings of the foreign shinobi. The giant summon you see here was intended to control all shipping in the archipelago. Please do not approach it. It doesn't seem to be hostile now that its master has been slain, but there is no sense in taking risks."

While the nobles examined the harbor in more detail Kurenai approached him. "Sasuke, please make sure the last step of the tour is ready. I will lead them through the laboratories first. Send Shino to meet us at the door."

He nodded. "Yes, sensei."

As soon as Sasuke was out of sight he slumped against a wall to catch his breath. Just walking with the group had taxed him greatly, more than he thought it would. Kurenai had obviously noticed his state and sent him away to get some rest. The group would need at least an hour to go through the deep levels and return.

Sasuke sighed when he pulled himself together and continued on his way. _'And I didn't even activate my sharingan. That would have made all this worth it.'_

He had hoped a life and death fight would be enough, but no such luck. If he was very unlucky he might never develop it; not all Uchiha did. It seemed to be somewhat hit and miss. When Sasuke had looked though the stuff left behind by his clan he had found a whole lot of speculation and hardly any facts. There were theories galore for the trigger like emotional stress or facing death, but nothing definitive had ever been ascertained.

Finally Sasuke arrived at the rooms they had appropriated as their quarters: An atrium looking out over the island's interior with three individual sets of rooms branching off. Originally the suites seemed to have belonged to the base's leadership, but as every room aside from those in the high-security area they had been cleared out. Thankfully the quarters of Amachi, the base's leader who had stayed behind when all other forces had left about two weeks before Team 8 arrived, had provided enough furnishings to make it passably comfortable.

Shino was sitting near a window, reading one of the documents they had recovered from the base's bowels. He looked up when he noticed Sasuke's entry. Several stacks of paper were placed on the table in front of him. They had found so many they had no hope of reading them all (especially considering that a good part was written in various ciphers), but they could at least catalogue some of them in their free time.

"Is everything alright?"

Breathing hard from the exertion of reaching his current location, Sasuke sat down before he answered. "So-so. Nothing some rest won't fix. I'm weaker than I thought. Sensei sent me to make sure Isaribi is ready, but I guess she just wanted me to get some rest. She wants you to meet up with the group at the steel door in about ten minutes." Sasuke hesitated a moment. "How is Isaribi? Is she up for her part?"

Shino glanced at one of the doors. "I am not sure. Hinata is still with her. She will tell us if Isaribi is ready in time before the meeting." He stood up. "I have to go."

Sasuke nodded in reply. Isaribi, the girl they had rescued from Amachi's clutches, was still in a bad way. He had missed most of the interactions due to his illness, but the others had brought him up to speed.

Isaribi was the medic-nin Amachi's latest victim. The ex-Konoha and now Oto nin had been obsessed with creating an underwater army. To achieve that goal he had performed gruesome experiments on people abducted from the Land of the Sea and other places. Multiple rooms in the secure section of the base were filled with the horrors he had produced in pursuit of that goal. The preserved corpses of the failed attempts were the fuel of nightmares. Isaribi, a fisherwoman only a little older than the genin, was the first one to survive whatever the madman had done to her. In fact, she was the first one that could count as a success, being able to turn into a man-fish hybrid.

At first the heavily traumatized girl had been too afraid to speak, but Kurenai and Hinata had managed to gently coax her out of her shell over the course of several days. Then things got worse again when they took the girl back to her village on a neighboring island.

From what Hinata had told him the villagers had been happy at first that Isaribi had survived. That lasted until they got a good look at the girl. Random patches of her skin had been replaced by dark green scales even in her human form. Calls of 'monster' and 'abomination' had been raised almost immediately. If not for Kurenai and Hinata the villagers probably would have lynched her on the spot. As it was they had taken a completely devastated Isaribi back to the secret base after collecting her meager possessions. The girl had spent the last days crying in her rooms with either Hinata or Kurenai for company.

'_I guess the villagers' reaction was to be expected. At least that is what Kurenai-sensei told us.'_

As much as shinobi villages valued bloodlines the normal populace abhorred them. Few places were as bad as the Land of Water where parents would kill their children if they showed signs of possessing a bloodline (if the parents were not killed themselves for producing such an 'abomination'), but it was bad enough. The vast majority of people living in the Elemental Nations were ignorant, uneducated and superstitious. Obvious physical deformities or seemingly unexplainable powers often sufficed for a bloodline bearer to be isolated by his peers. Such things were ascribed to spirits, demons and all sorts of monsters. Even in the more tolerant places they would be used as scapegoats if anything went wrong, like a bad harvest.

The multitude of wars involving shinobi didn't help matters any. Bloodline shinobi tended to be more powerful than the average, making them more present in the peasant's tales. According to what was taught at the academy shinobi wars rarely touched the normal population to a significant degree, though, exceptions like the long civil war in the Land of Water notwithstanding. It could happen if someone specifically employed shinobi to cause destruction, but it was usually cheaper to hire normal soldiers or bandits to do that. Off the top of his head Sasuke couldn't remember if the Land of the Sea had ever been affected in that manner. Still, the villagers feared what they didn't understand and a girl like Isaribi made a safe target.

This mindset was so alien to Sasuke that he still had trouble understanding it, but he couldn't argue with reality. It made him appreciate that he had received an education, no matter how sabotaged. Shinobi belonged to the privileged class as high-paid specialists. Heck, the majority of people he had met on his two missions away from Konoha couldn't even read or write.

An indefinite time later Sasuke jerked awake when someone touched his shoulder. He was disoriented for a moment, but then he recognized Hinata. Isaribi stood in the background, not looking at him. Apparently he had fallen asleep.

"Sasuke? It's time. We have to get ready."

With a nod the young Uchiha stood up and followed the two girls out of the room. The short nap had refreshed him enough to reduce his exhaustion to manageable levels. On the way he observed Isaribi from the corner of his eyes. She seemed to be reasonably composed, but didn't look at either him or Hinata. He supposed she didn't want anyone looking at her.

Soon they arrived at the mess hall where they would meet the daimyo's entourage. Hinata talked quietly with Isaribi, but the words were too soft for him to understand. They had already waited about ten minutes when their guests arrived.

Sasuke and Hinata bowed but remained standing while Isaribi immediately assumed a kneeling position on the floor, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground. Sasuke noticed that several members of the group were still green in the face and looked ill.

'_If I'm not mistaken the fat one has vomit on his clothes.'_

That didn't surprise Sasuke. Amachi had amassed a true collection of horrors. More than once his fever dreams had turned into nightmares. Orochimaru had done the same to Konoha's population according to the tales. It made Sasuke understand far better why he had been driven out of Konoha and declared a missing nin to be killed on sight.

Meanwhile, the daimyo had scrutinized Isaribi. "So, this is the survivor? What is your name, girl?"

"Isaribi, Daimyo-sama."

The old man stepped closer. "Look at me."

Hesitantly, Isaribi raised her eyes to the daimyo, given everyone a good look at the green scales marring her face. Several members of the daimyo's entourage flinched at the sight, but the old man maintained his steady gaze. "I see. There was talk of a transformation."

Isaribi hesitated for a moment. Then she wordlessly removed the outer layers of her clothing, revealing her partly scaled arms and legs. A moment later she transformed into that fish-creature form of hers, drawing shouts of surprise. The daimyo sucked in a breath of air before expelling it explosively, his countenance shaken. Many others averted their faces. After a few seconds Isaribi changed back and hurriedly covered herself again with shaking hands. To Sasuke it seemed as if she was close to her breaking point.

In that moment Kurenai intervened. "Thank you, Isaribi. Daimyo-sama, I already questioned Isaribi extensively. I'm sure I will be able to answer all your questions. She still has not recovered from her ordeal. There is no further need for her presence."

The daimyo signaled his consent with a nod. Hinata immediately led Isaribi away. Meanwhile Sasuke studied the expressions of the group. Most showed some mix of disgust, anger and pity. Others kept their expressions firmly under control.

A short time later the group took seats in another room where refreshments had been laid out by the servants the daimyo had brought along. Hinata slipped into the room unnoticed five minutes later while Kurenai relayed Isaribi's fate in detail.

"Isaribi was abducted from her hut on the neighboring island during a nightly raid several weeks ago. A short time later most forces stationed here left for reasons unknown. Their leader remained behind to complete his experiments. Over the course of those weeks Isaribi was repeatedly vivisected, healed back up, subjected to a variety of extremely painful medicinal procedures and implanted with unknown material. Most of the time she was conscious." Kurenai's voice was completely neutral. "When we arrived and killed her tormentor she was barely hanging on to her sanity. Isaribi's fellow villagers were not very understanding of her situation when we approached them. With your permission I would like to take her back with us to Konoha, Daimyo-sama. Maybe there is a way to reverse what was done to her."

The man nodded. "I agree. If that proves impossible I'm sure other arrangements can be made." He steepled his hands and looked at Kurenai with shrewd eyes. "Now, to the next matter. In light of these discoveries I will not continue the arrangement with Kirigakure. They have failed in their duties. My people have been preyed upon and my territory invaded. What conditions does Konoha offer for providing protection to my country?"

Kurenai smiled. "I'm glad you brought thus up, Daimyo-sama. You see…"

What followed was the most impressive example of haggling Sasuke had ever seen. Flowery speech and flattery veiled lopsided offers and counteroffers. The daimyo wasn't negotiating alone; three people sat beside him and partook in the negotiation while the rest of the delegation sat in the bakcground. The first man Sasuke thought was something like the minister of finance, the second one the commander of the Land of Sea's navy and military force (small as it was) while the third one was some other kind of advisor. Kurenai was outnumbered, but to all appearances it didn't faze her in the slightest.

Several times Sasuke had to suppress yawns. His stamina was still not recovered, but he didn't want to miss this. The negotiations were interesting. He wasn't sure if he would ever be able to manage something like it, but he hoped he would learn. The exact terms of the contract and responsibilities of both sides were hammered out in excruciating detail. Fees for standard and special services were brought up, wrangled about and set against alternative forms of payment like privileges. It went on for hours.

Finally the negotiations were complete and put into writing. Then daimyo and his delegation left after extending an invitation to the palace. After seeing them to their ships Kurenai returned to the genin. "That went very well. I think I got an excellent deal out of them."

"That was an impressive display, sensei." Shino remarked.

"Thank you. Negotiating contracts is an important skill, especially for a jonin."

"I thought treaties were only negotiated by the Hokage's office or specifically empowered delegations." Hinata said in a questioning tone.

Kurenai shook her head. "No, not always. As an elite jonin I do have the authority to make binding agreements on Konoha's behalf, especially when the distance to Konoha is too large for timely communication. Granted, a treaty on this scale requires the Hokage's approval, but I don't know of a single treaty negotiated in this manner that wasn't upheld outside of minor modifications." She smiled. "Besides, I got very good terms in relation to the resources Konoha will have to invest."

"Didn't we get paid considerably less than Kiri?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, but it's worth it." Kurenai explained. "The Land of the Sea isn't important on its own. The possible dangers, missions and the daimyo's budget would justify only a small garrison; they simply can't pay enough. Frankly, it doesn't even rate that. Basically, a visit every few months to check if everything is in order and if any local demand for missions came up like Kiri did is the appropriate level of force. They should have picked up on the disappearances and investigated, but luckily for us they didn't. Anyway, what matters are the indirect benefits. The treaty adds the Land of the Sea firmly into Konoha's sphere of influence."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. "It's a matter of politic power games."

"More than that. You will notice I negotiated for Demon Island as part of the payment. The base is already built; we just have to refurbish it before we can move in. With a major stronghold like this serving as a hub we can offer our services to a whole slew of island nations that were out of our reach before. The travel time from Konoha becomes just too long. The Archipelago of Pearls, Reef Country, there are many more. We might even reach the countries south of the Land of Wind if we expand westwards. Or eastwards further into Kiri's territory."

"Why didn't Konoha create an outpost before?" Shino asked.

"That's because we can't simply establish a major base in another country. Konoha is closely tied to the Land of Fire. That makes many other countries wary. Shinobi travelling through or small detachments are one thing, a base with more than a hundred shinobi quite another." Kurenai explained. "Now though things have changed. The Sea Daimyo was quite receptive to having a strong shinobi force here to protect his lands. The treaty actually only sets a lower limit of a dozen shinobi, though; committing more will be the Hokage's decision. This is really something I can't decide on my own."

Sasuke and his two teammates nodded. The lessons about the larger strategic picture were always interesting. There was always so much to consider. It was a far cry from 'Here's a mission, do this and that.' They wouldn't need to make decisions on such a level for many years, sure, but it was still fascinating. To rise to the top of shinobi one needed far more than merely strong combat skills.

"Well, enough of that. Hinata, how is Isaribi? You didn't say anything, so I assume she is holding up."

Hinata grimaced. "She was very shaken. I gave her something that made her sleep before I returned."

Kurenai sighed. "I guess it can't be helped. I hope the medic back in Konoha will be able to help her. Whatever Amachi did to her is far beyond my skills to reverse."

They were silent for a few seconds. Then Sasuke spoke up. "What if they can't help her?"

"Then she will have to live with it. It sounds callous, but there is nothing anyone can do about it." the jonin answered in a sad tone of voice. "She'll either find work in Konoha or return here. I'm sure the daimyo will make some arrangement. Her transformation at least gives her some useful skills. I imagine she would do well as the daimyo's personal messenger; she is a strong enough swimmer to cross between the islands faster than most ships are able to."

It remained unsaid that Isaribi's old life was pretty much destroyed. She would never be able to simply live normally. Her physical changes set her apart. The perpetrators of such experiments were truly monsters. It didn't say good things about Otogakure that they practiced such things. Sasuke had never met the man, but he already felt the beginnings of a deep-seated loathing for Orochimaru and all shinobi of his ilk.

Kurenai continued looking at them, apparently to gauge their reactions. "Good. Now that the negotiations are finished our work here is almost complete. We will block up the door to the deep layers of the base. I don't want anyone snooping down there while we travel back to Konoha. The daimyo has consented to post some guards, but I want to make sure. The day after tomorrow we head to the main island. Our ships should arrive soon. We might make it back to Konoha in time for the chunin exam finals."

* * *

Koharu Utatane was beyond tired. She felt every day of her nearly seven decades of life, but she still couldn't allow herself to rest. There was so much work to be done. Only when Konoha was truly safe again would she breathe easier. Taking her place at the Hokage's side (or rather on Hiruzen's double's side) in the meeting room, she patiently waited for everyone else to arrive.

Two weeks. It had taken them two weeks to purge their ranks of all the traitors and spies they could find. That included the reorganization of many squads, departments and divisions to make up for the losses. For those two weeks ANBU and the other loyal forces had ruled with an iron fist. Countless people had disappeared into the dungeons, never to be seen again. It broke Koharu's heart to see the fear in the eyes of many of her fellow villagers, but it had been necessary.

Morale was a serious problem. The village at large still thought Hiruzen was in power, but in truth Choza Akimichi had taken over all the truly important duties while an ANBU acting as a double made public appearances. To her great if unspoken relief he had proven up to the task to keep the populace under control. Even more fortunate was that the secret about Hiruzen's true status was still intact despite the relatively large number of people in the know.

Soon the large meeting room filled up. In contrast to earlier, rather limited meetings this one would encompass all clan and department heads as well as other persons of importance like the elite jonin of the village. Koharu already knew most of the news, of course, but they needed to inform everyone else.

Finally all participants were assembled. The ANBU disguised as the Hokage was the one to greet them. "Welcome, everyone. You have been called here for a strategic briefing. As you all know Konoha was almost overrun by enemy spies and traitors, threatening our village's very existence. Over the last weeks we have eliminated that threat. Many of us have made painful discoveries in that time. People we trusted turned out to be secretly working towards our village's detriment. It has been a difficult time for everyone, but I have faith that we will be able to build a brighter future now that we have cleansed ourselves. However, there is something I have to tell you." He stopped for a moment. "In the course of the interrogations we discovered a fact of extreme importance. We are facing a combined invasion of Sunagakure and Otogakure in less than two weeks' time."

For a few seconds shocked silence reigned. Then the uproar started. Shouts of disbelief like "But Suna is our ally!" and "Oto is only an upstart village; there is no way they could threaten us!" were far too common.

Koharu mentally shook her head. The idea that Konoha was invincible had taken root so deeply that many of the younger generation didn't seem to be able to imagine that the village might not last forever. It was different for Koharu and Homura. They had been born shortly after the founding of Konoha. The generation of their parents and even their elder siblings had still known a time when each clan or group of shinobi fought for itself (or rather their paying employers). The first shinobi war had seen both the Shodaime's and the Nidaime's death and threatened the village's very existence. Even the village system itself had not been sure to last; it had been an experiment with uncertain outcome, after all. Neither the second nor the third shinobi war had ever threatened Konoha to that degree again. Over the course of their long lives the old councilors had seen more than one shinobi village destroyed. Places like Soragakure or Uzushiogakure had been known far and wide in their heyday. Nowadays most people were hard-pressed to remember them at all. The Village hidden in the Woods was a more recent example of a destroyed village; one destroyed by Konoha no less. Most people didn't even seem to have taken notice of that, though.

Perhaps it was her age and Hiruzen's illness, but Koharu had been forcefully reminded of the mortality of all things. Nothing lasted forever. The alliance with Suna was a prime example. They had banded together during the third shinobi war, but that was now more than fifteen years in the past. The overall balance of power had changed greatly since then. In the end an alliance survived only as long as it was convenient for both sides, something it had not been for years. The exchange of increasingly hostile acts between Konoha and Suna was proof enough for that.

Finally the fake Hokage had enough of the chatter. "Silence! We have undeniable proof of the planned invasion. Our village is in danger. I expect you to behave professionally and keep your heads. Prepare your subordinates. Further orders will be given soon. I have faith in your abilities. When the time comes we will assemble all our strength and fight! Victory will be ours!"

That served well enough to calm the assembled shinobi down. A few questions were asked and answered. All in all they managed to keep morale up without revealing too many of the true facts.

As soon as the meeting ended Koharu left the room only to enter another for a second meeting. This one had far less participants: The clan heads, some of the most important department heads, Ibiki Morino, the ANBU leader, the Hokage double, Homura and of course Koharu herself.

"That went well." Choza remarked once he had taken his seat. "How does the interrogation of Kabuto go? Do you have any new information?"

"A few additional details regarding the invasion, but we discovered nothing fundamentally new since the last private briefing." Ibiki replied before he shook his head bemusedly. "We were really lucky to catch the subject. As it turned out Kabuto was Orochimaru's right-hand man and informed about practically everything. Even after two weeks we are still extracting bits of useful knowledge from him."

Choza nodded. "Please bring everyone up to speed. There are decisions to be made and I want everyone to be working with the same facts."

Koharu closed her eyes while she listened to Ibiki and Inoichi expounding on everything they had learned about the impending invasion. As prelude Orochimaru would kill and impersonate the Yondaime Kazekage and infiltrate Konoha in that form. The plan called for Suna's jinchuuriki Gaara to unleash the Ichibi in the center of Konoha during the finals of the chunin exams. A mass sleep jutsu would incapacitate a large percentage of the spectators while Orochimaru himself planned to attack Hiruzen. Infiltrators would strike throughout the village, causing chaos everywhere and hampering the organization of the defense. Meanwhile a number of giant snakes would be summoned to breach the walls, allowing the main invasion force to enter the village. There had even been a subplot to snatch young Sasuke, but it had been cancelled, both because the boy was out of the village and had yet to develop his sharingan.

Finally the retelling was finished. Almost two minutes were spent in silence while everyone considered the implications. Tsume Inuzuka was the first one to speak up. "This plan is stupid."

Shibi Aburame nodded in agreement. "I concur. There are several points at which the entire scheme could easily come apart. Are we sure this is Orchimaru's real plan and not a deception?"

"As sure as we can be considering the circumstances." Inoichi replied. "We caught all of the infiltrators already in the village and they confirm the story. Furthermore, Kabuto himself handed the orders regarding Gaara to the Suna jonin Baki and was involved in the preparations in Otogakure, too. No, this truly is the real invasion plan."

Tsume didn't look convinced. "But why aren't there any contingencies? This assassination and impersonation of the Kazekage might be discovered anytime. Even if that part succeeds Orochimaru will be mostly out of communication with his own forces. The same would have been true for Kabuto. They can't react in a timely manner if something goes not according to plan there. The infiltrators might be discovered, too. Someone could take out Gaara before he can unleash his beast. Even if they know our patrol routes and schedules an irregular patrol might stumble over the approaching forces and manage to send warning. There is just so much that could go wrong."

"We considered that. The answer we came up with is rather simple if hard to believe." Koharu replied. Then she chuckled mirthlessly. "It seems our plague of institutional overconfidence and incompetence affects Orochimaru's village, too."

For a moment the people not privy to the details looked at her disbelievingly. Then, slowly, Shibi began to nod. "I understand. That is logical."

Shikaku took it upon himself to explain things in greater detail. "When Orochimaru defected he took a number of Konoha shinobi with him. They are the nucleus he used to build his own village, but they are relatively low in number. Additionally, most of them were genin and chunin who had fallen under his influence with only a score of jonin and special jonin among them. That isn't enough to properly organize a village of Oto's size. Furthermore, they are affected by the same sloppiness that has plagued us. From what we learned from the prisoners the rest of Otogakure is made up from missing nin or promising children Orochimaru took in. Considering the limited time and scarcity of resources he had available since his defection most are only badly trained. They made do with widespread experimental medical enhancements to bring them up to a useful level, but that can't compensate for their lacking experience."

"They follow Orochimaru fanatically, but they aren't very efficient overall. The institutional knowledge is just not there, yet; Otogakure is simply too young a village. Additionally it is more set up to provide Orochimaru with money and bodies for experiments, not to build a sustainable force. The matter is made worse by Oto's distributed nature. Until he began to concentrate his troops for the invasion they were spread all over the Elemental Nations. A multitude of secret bases is harder to keep running efficiently than a single, concentrated village, especially considering Oto's lack of experienced mid- and high-level shinobi. They simply lack competent leadership." Inoichi said.

It was almost funny how sloppy Orochimaru was going about things. Of course, it seemed far less funny if one considered that he probably would have gotten away with it. Konoha's defenses both internal and external had deteriorated to almost nothing. It was perfectly possible for the invasion force to arrive undetected directly at the village's walls. His agents in Konoha had moved with almost reckless abandon directly under their noses, secure in their knowledge that Konoha was too inept to discover them. Granted, Orochimaru's inside knowledge of the village's workings made that easier to stomach, but it was still a huge problem.

"How big a threat does Oto pose in reality?" Hiashi Hyuuga asked.

Shikaku Nara frowned. "From a purely military perspective? Not an overly large one. The overwhelming majority of their forces are rabble that is only dangerous due to one or two tricks. Orochimaru himself is of course exceedingly dangerous, one of the most powerful shinobi alive and a match for any Kage. Fortunately he is only one man. He has only a small number of high-level shinobi like Kabuto at his disposal, but aside from him and a disproportionally small number of jonin only two are truly above chunin level. They might even approach kage level. Fortunately both will not be participating in the invasion. Kimimaro, one of the last Kaguya, is suffering from a disease that will kill him in the next few months or even weeks. He is already too ill to participate in combat operations. Another one is a crystal user named Guren. She is currently on a mission to an archipelago in the middle of the northern ocean beyond the Land of Lightning. Thankfully this year the storm season set in very early. That will delay her return for several months, making her a non-factor in the foreseeable future. The rest of Orochimaru's elite are generally chunin-level, but have a curse seal grafted onto them that will boost their combat abilities into the jonin range for a short time."

The group continued discussing what forces they were likely to face. Suna's shinobi were considerably better trained and individually more dangerous than Oto's in addition to being professionally led, but they would not be as numerous. Still, even combined and taking the recent losses into account Konoha would be able to defeat the attacking forces. Not without considerable casualties, of course, but absolutely every little part of Orochimaru's plan had to go exactly right for him to be successful in destroying Konoha. In fact, even then it was doubtful he would achieve that goal. Now that they knew about the invasion the only real question was how they could win without losing too many shinobi. A pyrrhic victory would be almost as bad as losing.

"The Ichibi presents the main problem, but Gaara is still young and rather inexperienced. He is a single point of failure for the entire invasion. Take him out of the game before he can lay unleash the beast and even if we had been caught completely by surprise we still would have won in the end." Choza mused. "What I'm wondering is why Orochimaru didn't see these weak points. Or if he did, why he went with this plan anyway. He is one of the smartest people in the Elemental Nations, after all."

Ibiki shrugged. "Hard to tell. Personally I'm of the opinion that Orochimaru's main problem is that he has no one who is willing to question him and his plans. There is nobody who asks things like 'Is that really a good idea?' or 'Have you considered this and that?', at least nobody who he would be willing to listen to. He is enamored with his own brilliance and keeps most things to himself. His inner circle consists of fanatical believers or schemers with their own agenda. There is little trust there."

"Could we convince Suna to abort the attack if we reveal the Kazekage's death?" Shibi asked. "That would shift the balance of forces markedly into our favor."

Koharu considered that. "Maybe. It is certainly something we should try. If we have to face only Oto our losses would be much lower. Still, for Suna to mount such an invasion there has to be widespread support in the populace. They might decide to continue anyway and only later turn against Oto for revenge of the murder of their Kage."

That was not something Koharu had expected. She had known that relations had deteriorated over the last years (Gaara's presence during the exams was a clearly hostile act, after all), but she had not thought that they had reached a level where an all-out attack was possible. Even the Kazekage being suborned by Orochimaru was not explanation enough. While each Kage was the leader of a village and had enormous influence over politic strategy he wasn't an absolute despot. If a Kage tried to act against the interests of enough sufficiently powerful factions he wouldn't remain Kage for long. Suna's council and populace had to be either desperate or deluded for this invasion to seem like a good idea. Even if they succeeded completely in their goal of destroying Konoha the inevitable losses would weaken them greatly. It was virtually certain that the other villages would use that opportunity to mount attacks of their own to finish off both the 'victor' and the 'loser' or at least expand their spheres of influence.

Choza raised a hand to call for quiet. "To summarize, we have to deal with Gaara and neutralize him as a threat. He is too dangerous to be left alone no matter what else happens. If possible we have to dissuade Suna from attacking. In case of the invasion still happening we have to defeat the enemy outside the village walls while preserving as much of our forces as possible. If it comes to house-to-house fighting our losses will skyrocket and reach unacceptable levels, not to mention the damage to the village's infrastructure and civilian population. Lastly, we will have to find a way to deal with Orochimaru himself. All of that has to happen in less than two weeks and without the enemy noticing." He leant back. "I'm open to suggestions."

* * *

**Author's notes: **Thank you for the reviews.

It's been a long time since the last update. Unfortunately work and family matters have robbed me almost completely of my time to write. Not sure if and when the pace will pick up again.

So long.


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